Adventures in Avatar Land
by Blair.Bear.Tate.Monster
Summary: "What the heck did I eat before bed to make me dream about this? Wait...what do mean this isn't a dream! But...But...You guys aren't real!" BBTM's dream based adventure with Avatar Aang and his friends!SOME SEVER LANGUAGE IN LATER CHAPTERS!
1. Waking Up In Avatar Land

**Hello everyone out there in internet land! Here's my second ever Avatar: the Last Airbender fanfiction! **

**I really hope you all will enjoy this one! It's actually relatively fact based; I did actually have this Alice in Wonderland type dream involving Aang and his gang. (Although there was a definite lack of smoking caterpillars.)**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Ps: I do NOT own Avatar: the Last Airbender. Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko and Nickelodeon are the ones to thank.**

I knew from the second I opened my eyes that something was very _very_…well not right…

First of all, I was outside.

_That's weird,_ I thought. _I definitely went to sleep in my bed last night._ "Don't tell me I've started sleep walking." That's a stress induced condition right?

The sky was bright blue with fluffy white clouds swimming slowly in its depths. I sat up and looked around. It seemed that I was in a road of some sort, the earth beneath me soft from being walked upon. There were fields on either side of me, though I couldn't tell what was growing in them.

I ran a hand through my hair; oddly, it was its usual length, landing along my neck, just skirting my shoulders. Usually in my dreams it was long again. I rubbed my hand over my eyes; _no glasses_ I thought. That was a bit more normal for my dreams. I either had contacts or 20/20 vision in my dream world.

I looked down, expecting to see the Wolf Pack tee shirt and grey work out pants that I had gone to bed in. Instead, I was met with the sight of a brown tunic over a green long sleeved shirt and green pants. I cocked my head; that was a new outfit for dream land, but it was nice so didn't complain. Could have been worse.

As I sat contemplating, I heard a voice ring out across the field to my left; I looked to see a flying lemur zooming toward me, followed closely by a young boy. "Momo! Come back!" The boy laughed as he chased what I assumed was his pet.

_This is familiar,_ I thought, watching the boy come into view. He wasn't very tall, maybe five foot two, but he was young and would probably get taller once he hit puberty. He wore strange yellow pants tucked into brown books. His outfit from the waist up was strange; like a long sleeved yellow shirt with a high collar, and a weird orange shoulder wrap thing. Around his wrists and waist were bands of orange, matching the thing on his shoulders.

The oddest thing about the boy was his head; he couldn't be older than fourteen, but he was completely bald and had a large blue arrow painted on his head. When I looked closer, I noticed that the boy had arrows on the backs of his hands as well.

The white lemur landed beside me in the road; his owner came up to the edge of the road. He looked at me, his grey eyes curious. "Um, hello," he said, waving to me gently. "Are you alright?"

Realization hit me like a bolt of lightning to the forehead. "Oh…my…fraking…GOD!"

The young boy jumped back slightly as I jumped to my feet, my hands over my mouth. "You're…you're…Aang the Avatar!"

Aang cocked his head to the side, looking at me as if I were crazy. "Uh…yeah. Nice to meet you..? You are?"

I shook my head slightly, trying to calm down. _You're dreaming girl, no need to flip your shit._ "Kate," I said softly.

Aang came closer to me, picking up Momo on the way. "Well, Kate, where are you headed?"

"Um…" That was also new in dream land. No one ever asked me things as if I belonged to the world we were in. "I don't know."

Aang shrugged. "Well, why don't you come back to my camp? You look pretty hungry, and I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea for you to be sitting in the middle of the road."

I nodded, taking a step after him as he turned to walk away; it was the first time I noticed that I had shoes on my feet. "Y-yeah…okay."

And so, I followed Avatar Aang, one of my favorite cartoon characters EVER to his camp. For some strange reason, this dream felt very different from any others I had ever had.


	2. Sokka's Pinch Brings Only Pain

Aang led me through the field, which turned out to just be hay. He asked me questions the entire way.

"Where are you from?"

"Uh…" I figured 'The United States,' wouldn't have been an acceptable answer. "Far away."

"Oh, how far? I might have been there. My friends and I travel a lot."

Crap…you'd think I'd remember that. "I don't really want to talk about it."

Aang shrugged as Momo landed on his left shoulder. "Alright then. So…Kate…that's a strange name."

_You're one to talk,_ I thought, but just smiled at him. We came to the edge of a forest on the far side of the field. There was a large clearing, where Aang's gang had set up camp. Katara was tending to the fire, trying to get it started up. Sokka was setting up the tent and Toph…well Toph was lying back on Appa's tail, picking her nose.

Toph sat up as she heard Aang and I approach. "Hey Twinkle Toes! Who's the new guy?"

"Um," I said. "I'm most definitely not a guy," I said, looking myself over. I defiantly still had my distinctly female shape.

"Sorry," Toph said, standing up and walking toward Aang and I. "Foot steps have no gender."

I nodded, accepting her apology, but then I remembered that Toph was blind, so I shook my head to myself. "It's alright," I said.

Katara walked up to us. "Aang, who is this?" she asked. Katara was very pretty, with her dark hair and skin with bright blue eyes. She gave me a smile; I didn't feel as nervous as I did earlier.

I held my hand out to her. "I'm Kate," I said. She took my hand and shook it gently. Thank God people here understood the gesture. "Nice to meet you."

Sokka finished putting up their tent and then walked over to us. He had obviously heard me say my name, because when she spoke he said, "Well, Kate, you from around here?"

"I…uh…" I started, reaching my hand back to rub the back of my head. "I uh…"

"Sokka, she told me she didn't want to talk about it," Aang jumped to my defense, for which I was grateful. "What do we have to eat?"

Katara came up to me and lead me to the fire to sit. "We'll have some berries and nuts again tonight. You look a little pale Kate," she said to me. "Are you feeling alright?"

I was a little confused, and it took me a moment to realize what she meant. I was so pale it was almost illegal. "Oh, no I'm fine; I'm just fair skinned."

Katara nodded as we sat down beside the fire. "Your hair is a very interesting color," she said, motioning toward it. I rolled my eyes up, glancing at my bangs. Still the same dirty blonde they were when I went to bed. Only they were dry; they hadn't been when I went sleep.

"Uh, thanks," I said, running a hand through it; that was a bit of a nervous habit of mine. "I uh…like you…hair loopies?"

Katara gently fingered her hair loopies, a half smile on her face. I shook my head at my own comment; I wasn't usually this awkward or tongue tied in my dreams. Sooka, Aang and Toph all came and say with us around the fire.

"So, Kate…" Sokka said, pulling a sack toward him and opening it. Our dinner of nuts and berries was inside. "That's a pretty weird name."

I groaned without meaning too. Why did everyone keep saying that? Katara reached out and swatted her brother. "Sokka, that's rude! You have no right to pass judgment on someone's name!"

I shook my head again as the brother and sister began arguing. It was always during either an argument or right before a battle that I woke up. So where was my trustworthy alarm clock?

Toph was sitting beside me, and she gently pressed her hand into the ground beside my leg. "Is everything alright Kate? You seem kind of…nervous."

I shook my head – why did I keep forgetting things about my favorite cartoon characters? Toph could probably feel my erratic hear beat through the ground.

"Well," I finally figured that if this was all a dream, I could get away with saying that I was dreaming. "I usually wake up right about now," I said.

From the looks I received, you would have thought I had sprouted a third eye or a whole second head from my shoulder. "Um…" Katara started, obviously trying to be gently. The situation was suddenly very delicate. I guess they thought my sanity was…well not totally there. "You're not dreaming…you're wide awake."

I cocked my head to the side, running a hand through my hair again. "Well then, if I'm not dreaming someone pinch me. If things are as I suspect, I'll wake up in my bed with my dog lying on my butt."

I stuck my arm out in front of me. Aang and Katara shared questioning looks with one another, but Sokka was very eager; he readily reached out and pinched my arm.

And it hurt like hell. I recoiled with a yelp as Sokka said, "See, you're not dreaming."

Okay, that was when I went into panic mode. _Why haven't I woken up?_ I began stammering nonsense; Katara and Aang both placed calming hands on my shoulders. "Calm down," Katara said in her motherly voice. "It's going to be alright."

"But, I…it's…this isn't right! You guys aren't even real!"

After I said that, they definitely thought I was insane.


	3. Toph Actually Admits To Being Lazy

Aang looked himself over. "I look pretty real," he said.

"Don't taunt me!" I snapped; Katara was standing behind me with both of her hands on my shoulders. I guess she was trying to keep me from jumping up and attacking someone.

"Easy New Girl," Toph had stood up from her place beside me, and looked ready to bend the earth around me into a prison. "Just take a deep breath."

I stopped my struggling against Katara and focused on gulping in air. "Okay, deep breathing mastered," I said, glancing at everyone. "I'm sorry for flipping my shit, but you've got to understand. Where I'm from you guys are…well…characters."

Everyone exchanged an uncertain glance. "Like, in a story?" Aang asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, grateful that they were actually attempting to listen to me. "One of my favorite stories! I know all about you guys! And normally, when I dream about you all, I wake up either when Katara and Sokka argue or right before a big battle!"

Everyone shared glances again, this time a little less uncertain. "Well," Katara said softly, releasing her vice-like grip on my shoulders. "I guess that makes sense, but…where are you from?"

I shook my head lightly. "I'm from…I don't know. I can't say the real world, because now that I'm here, this world is very _very_ real. Hmmm…" I held my chin in my right hand as I thought.

"You're not some weird spirit world visitor are you?" Toph asked, her voice holding mild annoyance. "I can't handle all that weird spiritual crap."

I shook my head more fiercely. "No, I'm not from the spirit world. My world has no connection to your aside from the stories we have of you guys and your adventures."

I ran both of my hands through my hair. "I don't know; I guess this really isn't a dream. But then there's no explanation as to how I got here." I covered my face with my hands and shook my head.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard Aang speak. "Don't worry; we'll help you figure it out."

I heard Sokka scoff. "How are we supposed to do that? I mean, we have no idea how to even start finding out about her world."

I glanced up to Aang, who shrugged. "I don't know, but I think I might know someone who knows enough about our world to find connections to another."

Katara cocked her head at Aang. "Who?"

Aang smiled brightly. "Uncle Iroh, of course!"

Everyone, myself included, looked at Aang as if he were high. I was the first to come out of my disbelief, sighing as I spoke. "At least it's not Bumi."

Katara nodded in mild agreement. Aang clapped his hands together, a broad grin on his face. "So it's settled! We'll head to Ba Sing Se after we stop at Kyoshi Island!"

I glanced at everyone; despite all my ravings, they were still going to help me? "You guys don't have to, I mean…" I was letting them know that they didn't _have_ to help me. Sort of like when you kindly refuse a gift or an offer to go on a date. But, truth be told, I wouldn't be able to get back home on my own without some sort of help. Who better than the Avatar?

Aang took a seat on the other side of Katara. "Hey, helping people is kind of our lot in life."

Sokka shrugged, scooting closer to me and placing a friendly arm around my shoulders. "It's not a lot, but it's our life."

I nodded. "Thanks," I said. "I'll find a way to repay you all, I promise."

Katara, who was sitting on my other side, smiled. "Don't worry about it."

I nodded again before looking toward Toph, who had moved to the other side of the camp fire. "Toph? Quick question."

Toph had taken to picking her toes. "Yeah."

"Well," I started. "I know that you 'see' by feeling the vibrations in the ground. You were able to tell Aang was walking toward camp. Shouldn't you be able to tell someone's gender based on how they walk?"

Toph stopped picking her feet for a moment, appearing to be in thought. "I see your point," she started before returning to her toe picking. "But then again, I am pretty lazy." She smiled widely at me, making me laugh a little.

"I should have known that, I guess."

**Here you have it! Chapter Three. I wanted to go ahead and let everyone out there know: The next few chapters spawned out of my imaginations. Not everything in the story actually happened in the dream I had. Note why the summary says 'dream based.'**

**Also, mad props to '' for bringing up the subject of Toph's ability to distinguish gender through footsteps. I added that last bit just for you :)**

**Lastly, thanks to my reviewers! You make me smile very much! **


	4. Questioned On The Way To Kyoshi

We all spent the evening sitting around the camp fire. I questioned them of the entire goings on in their world.

The war had ended almost one year prior to my…'arrival'. Everyone was actually on their way to the Fire Nation for a sort of anniversary party with Fire Lord Zuko. They were stopping at Kyoshi Island to pick up Suki and Ty Lee, who had returned there with the other warriors about a month after Sozin's comet.

Katara and Aang were 'together' though they were still kind of awkward about it. Young love was so cute sometimes. Sokka and Suki had been maintaining a long distance relationship, though he did have plans of asking her to live with him.

"I'll live where ever she wants to, as long as we're together," he said, surprisingly serious.

"Awww!" Katara cooed at her older brother. "You're so cute!"

"And that's why I don't talk about this kind of stuff when you guys are around," Sokka glared, but his cheeks were bright red, so his anger didn't have much of an effect on the rest of us. He stood quickly from his seat beside me and sulked as he made his way to the tent. "I'm going to bed; see you in the morning."

We bid him goodnight, and then continued our conversation, but only for a few more minutes. It had gotten pretty late very fast; the day had vanished quickly. Katara offered me her sleeping bag; I tried to refuse, but she just placed it in my hands and went to join Toph on Appa's tail. Aang curled up on Appa's saddle, and everyone fell into slumber within moments.

The next morning I woke, surprised how rested I was. We packed up camp rather quickly and after a um…'bathroom break' (let me tell you, not pleasant!) we were on our way to Kyoshi on Appa's back.

"So, Kate…" Aang started as he sat, holding Appa's reins. "I was wondering-"

"Could we please find a different name for this girl?" Sokka's almost deranged cry rang out through the sky.

I sat up on my knees, my hands on my hips. "What's wrong with my name?"

Sokka was reclining at the back of Appa's saddle, his legs crossed, and his fists on his knees in a determined pose. "It's weird, for one, and for two, it's really awkward to say."

I rolled my eyes as I sat back down Indian style. "Fine; my middle name is Mae. There's lot of those in this world, right?"

Toph was picking her nose as she leaned over the lip of Appa's saddle. "Yeah, but there's still more 'Lee's."

"Anyway," Aang started again. "I was wondering about your world; is it really different from ours?"

I nodded as I leaned over the front lip of the saddle; Katara was leaning over it as well. We looked color contrasted girls hanging out at a slumber party, resting our chins on our folded arms. "Yeah, it's way different. We use electricity in our houses, and we have indoor plumbing."

Aang looked slightly confused, but continued with his questions. "Okay then; how exactly did you hear the stories about us?"

"Well," I started, trying to think of the best way to explain cartoons to him. "It was this sort of…play thing…but instead of having actors it's done with moving pictures."

I heard Sokka snort and mutter something about how stupid moving pictures sounded. I rolled my eyes as my eyebrow literally began to twitch. Katara placed a hand gently on my forearm. "Don't worry; you'll get to where you can ignore him."

"For his sake, he'd better hope so," I said, smiling at Katara despite my annoyance with her older brother. "So, Katara, you're sixteen now?"

Katara nodded a little before motioning to Aang. "Yep; Aang will be fourteen in a few months, as will Toph. Sokka is seventeen-"

"You are seventeen going on eighteen; I'll~ depend~ on you!" I couldn't help but sing a line from my favorite song from _The Sound of Music_. Everyone gave me an odd look. "What? It's from a song in my world!"

Everyone gave their own form of a 'well, okay then,' before we all fell into a comfortable silence. It didn't last long; Aang continued to question me about my world. What did I do for fun there? Did I have a family? What did they do for fun? Were there any large animals you could ride on the backs of?

"Okay then," he said after I explained the concept of a mechanical bull to him. "Well, are there any benders in your world?"

I shook my head. "No; there are stories of people who can manipulate the elements, but they're few and far between. And there's no real evidence that someone can actually do it; none that I've seen, anyway."

Katara was in awe beside me. "Wow, a world without bending. I can't imagine…"

I shrugged a little. "Can't really miss what you never had."

Aang nodded his head as he pulled lightly on Appa's reins; I could see Kyoshi island just on the horizon. "So, there's no chance that you're a bender?"

I shrugged again. "I guess not; it would be pretty cool if I was though."

Aang nodded, appearing to agree with me, but I could tell that his mind was on the task of landing Appa on the shore of Kyoshi Island.


	5. Ty Lee Is A Gift From God

It was mid day when we touched down on the small island. The locals had spotted Appa, and they had all come to the shore to greet us. They roared and applauded when Aang waved before bringing Appa in for the landing. There was even that annoying guy who foamed at the mouth in excitement.

I recognized the Kyoshi warriors right away; they were in their usual yet stunning uniforms of flowing green silk. The older warriors had their make up on, while the younger recruits did not. Suki stood at the front of the crowd, shadowed by who I was assuming was Ty Lee. Both warriors looked excited; Ty Lee was bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hands clasped in front of her.

Appa landed with a soft thud, and Sokka launched himself off of the giant bison and caught Suki in what seemed to be a bone crushing hug. The couple laughed as Sokka lifted Suki and spun her around. "I missed you…so much!" Sokka said in an excited and hyperactive manner.

Suki laughed as her boyfriend spun her around; Ty Lee was forced to move back so she wouldn't get knocked down. As Sokka stopped spinning his warrior lover, he set her on her feet. "I've missed you too," Suki said, kissing Sokka's cheek.

The rest of us made our way off of Appa and toward the crowd. Ty Lee ran forward and grabbed Katara and Toph into a tight hug. All three girls laughed and began talking, asking how the other was. Aang helped me down to the ground from Appa's saddle, and then walked over to his friends. I stood beside Appa, wishing that I could disappear into the bison's fur. Momo came and landed on my right shoulder and I reached up and scratched his head.

I felt like an intruder; I didn't belong here. This was a happy reunion among friends, and I was a stranger who didn't even belong in their world. I leaned back against Appa who groaned, as if to tell me, "Don't just stand there, scratch me!"

Appa's groan attracted the attention of…well everyone. Suki and Ty Lee noticed me for the first time, their eyes going wide for a moment. I guess the blonde hair made me stick out like s sore thumb. Suki looked up at Sokka, who still had his arms wrapped around her. "Who is this?" she asked, looking from her boyfriend to his traveling party.

Aang came back toward me, gently grabbing my arms and pulling me forward. "This is Kate…er…Mae. Mae, residents of Kyoshi. Residents of Kyoshi? Mae."

I bowed to the residents of the island in what I thought would be a respectful manner (I basically imitated every anime I had ever watched). Aang continued to speak as I bowed, keeping my head down. "I found her yesterday and…we're um…going to help her find her way home."

I was grateful for the Avatar's choice of words; no need to send mouth foamy guy into a tizzy by telling everyone I was from a different world. I straightened up and smiled at everyone.

Ty Lee stepped forward and grabbed me in what was a bone crushing hug; well, more like bone popping hug, but you get the point. The young woman squeezed me tightly. "It's very nice to meet you Mae!" Ty Lee released me and ran her fingers through my bangs. "You have such pretty hair!"

"Um," I started, caught off guard by her enthusiasm. You'd think I would have known that she would react that way. "Thank you."

Ty lee smiled and I felt a little bit better. The younger woman grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to the large group of people; Aang followed closely behind us. Chief Oyaiji stepped forward through the crowd, addressing the people of his village. "We should properly welcome the Avatar and his friends! Tonight, the village will have a feast!"

The crowd cheered in approval and then quickly dispersed, heading off to prepare for the festive even that would occur in only a few hours. Most of the warriors headed off to train, but Ty Lee and Suki remained with us on the shore. Suki came up to me and held her hand out to me. "It's nice to meet you Mae. Welcome to Kyoshi."

I took her hand, we shook and then released. Aang approached, speaking in a low voice. "Suki, there's something we need to talk about."

"I know," Suki said. "There have been rumors coming in on the fishing boats and trading ships from other parts of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation."

"What kind of rumors?" Katara stood beside Aang, to my left. Sokka joined us, standing behind Suki; Toph and Ty Lee were to my right.

Ty Lee spoke up. "There are rumors of rebellion; there's supposedly going to be an uprising of some sort that's going to try and eliminate Fire Lord Zuko."

Sokka jumped into the conversation. "Don't tell me: there are still some crazy Ozai loyalists who what to restart the war."

Suki turned toward her boyfriend and gently patted his head. "You're so cute when you seem smart."

Sokka rolled his eyes slightly but hugged his girlfriend anyway. Toph spoke from my right. "We'll have to talk with Zuko about that once we get to the Fire Nation in a few days; he probably already knows all about it. Until then, Suki, we've got something else we need to talk about."

Aang nodded before motioning to me. "Mae is from another world; she has no idea how she got here, and no clue how to get back home. We're taking her with us to Uncle Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se when we go to pick him up. I figure he might be able to help us figure something out."

Suki nodded at Aang before looking at me. "Looks like you're stuck with us for the time being Mae," she said, smiling softly; I guess she was trying to make me feel better about my situation. "Welcome."

Suki arranged for everyone to bathe and be provided with fresh clothes while our current ones were being washed (thank God). Katara, Toph, and I were provided with simple blue tunics over white shirts with blue pants; they were fresh smelling and comfy. The guys received similar (though gender appropriate) outfits.

We attended the feast, which was amazing. I had never seen so much food in one place. There were a wide range of fruits, vegetables and meats; I took a cue from Aang and stuck with vegetables. I wasn't too sure how well I could trust the meat of hybrid animals.

After the feast we were put up in a nice little hut with comfortable sleeping mats. Suki and Sokka had gone off for a walk; the rest of us were sure he was going to talk with her about living together. The rest of us were just hanging out in the hut, listening to the night sounds that drifted in through the open window.

Ty Lee was sitting behind me, playing with my hair. She was tugging it gently, pulling it into short pony tails, then deciding against it and trying pig tails. Tall the tugging was really relaxing. "Ty Lee, you and my hairdresser Dave are gifts from God."

"Dave?" Ty Lee asked, pulling my hair back into a pony tail and holding it with her hand. "That's a funny name."

I felt Ty Lee stand up from behind me, but the pony tail stayed; I reached up and felt a ribbon tied tightly around it. Ty Lee came around to stand in front of me and examine her work from the other available angles. "Hmmm…" she said, holding her chin in between her thumb and forefinger as she thought. She must have liked her handy work because she sprang on me and hugged me tightly. "You're so cute!"

I couldn't help but laugh with her. Katara was sitting to our left and Toph was picking her toes to our right. Katara began getting ready for bed. "We'd better get some sleep; we're leaving at dawn."

Aang's sleeping mat was across the room beside Sokka's empty one; it seemed that the young Avatar had fallen asleep despite all the girl noises. Ty Lee, Toph and I decided to follow his and Katara's lead. We were leaving at dawn in order to reach Ba Sing Se by night fall.

We extinguished the lights and curled up on our sleeping mats; Ty Lee left to go sleep in the warrior's hut. I lay on my back, staring at the starry sky. I wondered if my family knew I was gone, if they missed me. I wondered if I would ever get home.

Some where on the island and girl squealed; it was a happy sound. "Guess Sokka finally asked," I muttered before rolling onto my side and falling into a dreamless sleep.


	6. Katara is a Human Thermometer

Sure enough we were up and on our way by dawn the next morning. Sokka had gotten in really late, his hair out of his usual pony tail. I smiled a little as he trudged his way to his sleeping mat and flopped down, not even bothering to get under the blanket.

Anyway, because of his getting to bed late he was tired; he curled up into a ball with his head in Suki's lap as we rode Appa to Ba Sing Se. Suki had pulled his hair out of the pony tail and was running her fingers through it gently. She and Ty Lee were in civilian clothing, their uniforms and make up packed in their bags for the journey to Ba Sing Se.

Ty Lee and Toph sat talking, leaning over the lip of the saddle at the side; I couldn't really tell that they were talking about, but they were keeping their voices low so as to not wake Sokka. They were smiling and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Katara and I were leaning on the front lip of the saddle, conversing with Aang who sat on the back of Appa's neck. We were talking about how we were going to get everyone from Ba Sing Se to the Fire Nation Capital on Capital Island. "Appa can make it," Aang said, patting the bison's neck affectionately. "Can't ya' buddy?" The bison groaned in response.

The three of us laughed, but I stopped short; I had a splitting headache. It was right behind my left eye, but was spreading throughout the rest of my head. I closed my eyes and gently rubbed it with the tips of my fingers with a groan.

"You okay Mae?" Katara glanced at me as I massaged my eye.

I nodded. "Yeah, just a headache; I'm feeling a little off today."

Katara sat up, placing her left hand on her own forehead and her right hand on mine. "Hmm," she said. "You might have a bit of a fever. We'll make sure to get you some hot tea once we get to Iroh's place."

I nodded as Katara settled down beside me again. We talked for most of the day, our words slowing slightly when we ate the food that the residents of Kyoshi had packed for us. Appa groaned at the mention of food. "Don't worry buddy; as soon as we get to Ba Sing Se you can go to the zoo where Kenji will give you all the hay you can eat."

Appa groaned as if to say, "For this, he'd better." Aang, Katara and I laughed at the bison.

It was a long trip, to say the least. As the day wore on, I started to feel worse; my head throbbed and my stomach churned after we ate. I decided to try taking a nap, hoping it would help me feel better. Katara handed me a blanket and I curled up into a ball on the left side of Appa's saddle. It didn't take me long to drift off the sleep.

I missed flying over the outer wall, as well as landing at the Ba Sing Se Zoo just outside the inner wall. Katara woke me up by shaking my shoulder gently. "C'mon, we've gotta go to Iroh's shop."

We left Appa in Kenji's care and walked through the gate into the city. We caught a couple carriages to ride into the upper ring. Sokka, Suki, Ty Lee and Aang took one while Toph, Katara and I took another. Katara checked my temperature again. "Yep," she said, popping the 'p'. "It's a fever; I'm sure Iroh should have something to help. I wonder what made you sick so fast."

I shrugged; I still had my blanket from earlier warped around my shoulders. "I'm not sure; the only thing I can really think of is that I'm allergic to some of the different vegetables you have here." It did seem plausible, but a lot of what they had was similar to what we had back home.

The ride to the upper ring wasn't a long one; we had arrived at the inner wall just as the sun was setting. We pulled up outside of Iroh tea shop the Jasmine Dragon after night had fallen. Street lamps were lit and the large door to the shop flooded the street with light.

Iroh stood in the door way dressed in very nice Earth kingdom clothes, his hands in the sleeves of his robes. "Welcome friends! It is wonderful to see you all!"

I started to step out of the carriage but got very light headed. I went down…hard. And I was so out of it that I had no idea what was going on. One minute I was stepping out of the carriage, the next I was laying on the ground, wondering how I got there.

Katara ran over to me, talking to me and putting her hand on my fore head. Everything she was saying to me was muddy, like I was underwater and she was shouting at me from above the surface. I closed my eyes.


	7. Mae Can Bend

I could tell I was dreaming. That was a comfort at first, because it meant I wasn't too far gone, but then again it was a bad sign. I had never dreamed while in a dream before. _Guess that means this really _isn't _a dream._

At first, I was just floating in this white nothing; then, colors began fading in, like a reverse wash out effect. Soon I found myself in a beautiful large garden. "I know where I am," I thought aloud, my voice having this weird echo. It was almost like the echo of my own words ran backwards. It was trippy. "I'm in the Fire Nation; the garden in the Capital."

Under the shade of a tree, beside a small pond, sat a young man who was about my age, eighteen or so. I recognized him immediately, despite the longer hair. "Zuko."

He was sitting beside the pond, feeding the turtle ducks; they quacked happily as he tossed them bread. I couldn't help but smile when I visualized him as a child, his face unmarked by his tyrant of a father, sitting below the tree with his mother Ursa. _I wonder what happened to her,_ I thought.

From the edges of my vision, I saw something slithering through the grass. When I turned toward it, I saw a large blue snake. _No,_ I thought. _Not a snake._ "A dragon."

I scanned my memory for a blue dragon. There was something there, just on the edges of my memory, just out of my reach. And then the dragon, having wound its way around Zuko as he sat, spoke.

"Fire Lord Zuko," it purred, his sweet voice dripping with venom. _Azula._

The serpent like dragon wrapped itself around the fire lord, its head resting on his shoulder. I tried to step forward, warn him as to who exactly was perched on him like a pet, but my feet wouldn't respond. I couldn't move. "Zuko!" I called, knowing as soon as the words left my lips that he wouldn't be able to hear them. "Zuko, watch out!"

The Azula serpent rose up, unhinging its jaw as it opened its mouth wide, and began to plunge down on the fire lord.

"No!"

I sprang forward, my hair in my face. My voice didn't have the weird echo anymore, so I knew I wasn't dreaming anymore.

There were yelps coming from several places. I ran a hand through my hair and looked around. Katara was sitting on her knees beside the sleeping mat I was on. She had been holding a ladle of water in her hand, but somehow, the water from inside it and the bucket beside her had been spilled.

But the bucket was completely upright.

I was panting from fear caused by my dream. "Katara," I said. "Why did you bend that water all over the place?"

Katara wiped her face off with her hand. "I didn't Kate…Mae…You did…"

I heard a commotion and then the door to the small room we were in opened. Aang stood there, soaked from head to toe in what appeared to be tea. "Katara, what just happened? Every single liquid in the shop just shot out of their containers!"

I looked from Aang to Katara; Katara was looking at me, first in disbelief. Then, a small smile spread across her face. "Aang," she said, putting the ladle back into the now empty water bucket. "I think Mae might be a water bender."

I shook my head and then flopped back down onto the pillow. This was just too much.


	8. Iroh Shares Wisdom and Tea

Katara helped me up, showed me the equivalent of the bathroom, got me some fresh clothes and left me to freshen up. I did so willingly, feeling rather…_icky_ after having been feverish for the past two days.

Yeah, I had been unconscious for over a day! Oh, I was just having so much fun!

I changed out of the clothes I had been given on Kyoshi. The new clothes I had were simple earth kingdom robes; a long green dress with short sleeves and a long skirt that just brushed the floor. Katara had handed me some green slipper like shoes, which I slid on my feet before going to the front of Iroh's tea shop.

The Jasmine Dragon was beautiful; even more so when I was actually there. It was about mid afternoon so there weren't too many people in the shop. I was pretty sure that it would get crowded once residents of the upper ring finished working for the day. I had followed the sounds of voices into the main room; everyone was seated around a particularly large table (or possibly several small tables crammed together) as Iroh served tea.

I looked over everyone as I approached; Sokka and Suki were missing, but everyone else was there. I came up to the table and took a seat on an empty cushion. "Look whose back from the dead," Toph said, though you could tell she was glad to see me…well, hear me.

"Hi," I said, my voice a little horse from lack of use. I cleared it slightly as I gazed around the table at everyone. I was facing the open door; it was a little grey out, like it would probably rain soon. Katara and Aang were sitting next to one another on my right playing some sort of tile game. Toph and Ty Lee were to my left playing a similar but completely different game. Uncle Iroh disappeared behind the counter. "So where are Sokka and Suki?" I asked.

Katara glanced up from the game she was playing. "They went to the Fire Nation to get Zuko and Mai; we didn't think we could travel there four our planned get together with you so sick."

I cast my gaze down, slightly ashamed. "I'm sorry; I messed up your plans."

Aang's voice caught my attention. "Don't worry about it. It's been nice to hang out with Iroh for a few days. And besides, you were pretty sick; it would have been a bad idea to have you travel."

I nodded, looking around at everyone. "Thank you…you guys are really great friends even though we haven't known each other that long."

Ty Lee reached toward me and patted a hand on my shoulder. "Friends are friends, no matter how long you've known them," she said, sounding rather wise. She smiled brightly at me. "Besides, I knew we would be really good friends when you let me play with your hair!"

I laughed a little. "Anytime," I said.

Iroh came out from behind the counter, carrying a tray with a tea pot and a single cup. "It is good to see that our new friend is up and about," he said, walking over to the table and setting the tray down beside me. "Have some Boju tea; it will help you feel better."

I nodded as Iroh poured tea into the cup and handed it to me. I thanked him and took a sip; not my favorite, but I smiled anyway. It was pretty awesome to drink tea in the Jasmine Dragon surrounded by some of the most awesome cartoon characters in the world. My smile widened as I drank more of my tea.

Iroh took a seat to my left, pushing the tea tray more toward the center of the table (which was in fact one large table). Aang and Katara finished whatever game they had been playing and Aang spoke to me. "So, Mae? Can I ask you about something?"

I finished off the rest of my tea and set the cup on the table; Iroh moved to refill it as I addressed Aang. "Sure, what's up?"

Aang glanced at Katara, who made a motion with her hand, telling the young monk to speak. "Well, you see…when you were asleep, you talked a lot…"

I blushed a little and shook my head. "Yeah, it's kind of a problem I have," I said apologetically. "Sorry you had to listen to my ramblings."

Katara shook her head as she held a hand out to stop me. "No, it's not that at all. What you were saying made sense." All eyes were on Katara as she spoke. "You talked about Zuko being in danger…and you said something about Azula."

Suddenly, all eyes were on me; Ty Lee's gaze was a mixture of fear and intrigue at the mention of her former friend. I nodded, recalling my dream about the blue dragon and telling everyone what I could remember of it.

When I finished telling my story, Iroh sighed slightly. "This isn't good," he mused. "I fear that we may all be in danger, not just my nephew. If Azula is involved, we will all have to be especially careful."

Everyone murmured, agreeing with Iroh. He handed me my forgotten cup of tea. I sipped at it, my stomach suddenly churning. The thought of meeting Azula in any way terrified me. The girl had given me nightmares when I was younger; I dreaded the day that I might have to actually set eyes on her. Iroh sighed softly beside me. "Good friends will shield us from the storm," he said, almost to himself, before standing and walking behind the counter to brew more tea.

**Hey all! Hope you liked this chapter! I'm especially proud of it, for some strange reason!**

**I just wanted to let everyone know that 'Boju' is a variety of chrysanthemum which is brewed into a tea. Said tea is thought to lower fever and sore throat. According to Wikipedia, you can find it in canned or packed form in most Asian grocery stores! **

**R&R!**

**XXOO**

**BBTM**


	9. Katara and Aang Are Good Teachers

Despite the obvious danger of rain, Katara, Aang and I went out behind Iroh's teashop and apartment into his rather large backyard/garden. There was soft grass, a couple of large trees and a nice sized pond. Katara moved to stand beside the pond while Aang and I hung back, watching her. "Mae," she started, eying the pond the stood next too. "Did you feel…well, a connection with any elements in your world?"

I raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to answer. I glanced at Aang, I guess hoping that the 'infinitely wise Avatar' could help me out, but he just shrugged. I sighed before answering. "I don't really know," I said, biting my lip. I felt like I was giving the wrong answer. "I mean…I guess I was kind of connected to water. I've always been a good swimmer, and um…" I shrugged.

Katara smiled at me slightly. "I thought so," she said.

Moving so quickly that I couldn't really tell what she was doing, Katara bended some water out of the pond. She froze it in her hand and then chucked it at me. "Think fast!"

I'm not sure what I exactly I did or how I managed to do it, but I bended. Water was pulled quickly from the pond and in front of me in a frozen sheet. Katara's icicle slammed into my shield. Her smile widened. "You're good Mae," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

I hadn't even been aware of it, but my arms were out; I had bended my shield without even realizing it. I let my arms drop and the ice sheet melted and fell to the ground. Aang glanced between Katara and me. "Mae, I thought you said there weren't any benders in your world."

I shook my head fiercely. "There aren't; not really. I mean, I guess there _could _be, but I've never seen it for myself. And I've never done _that_ before." I pointed to the puddles of water that were now in the grass.

Aang placed a calming hand on my shoulder. The thirteen-year-old smiled and I felt a little better; no need to freak out _again_. "You're connection with water must be stronger here. I mean, Katara can't even bend water several rooms away while unconscious. I can only do it when I'm in the Avatar state, and I still have to be awake."

Katara walked over to us, crossing her arms lightly. "You've got some amazing power Mae; why don't you let Aang and I teach you how to use it?"

I bit my lip. It was kind of scary, suddenly having 'some amazing power' that you never knew what inside you for eighteen years. I shook my head a little. "I'm not sure you guys," I said, looking from the bald monk to the water bender.

Katara placed a hand on my other shoulder. "Give us a couple hours; if you don't want to continue, we won't."

I felt slightly ganged up on; with two people asking me so nicely, how could I say no?

"Okay," I said.

As it turned out, Katara and Aang were both very good teachers.

"Water is the element of change," Aang told me as we stood before Iroh's pond. I nodded, trying to absorb what was sure to be very wise and useful information.

Katara stood on the other side of Iroh's pond, gently pushing and pulling the water. "Water benders saw the way the moon pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves."

I nodded; I already knew most of what they told me that afternoon, but there was something about hearing it in real life as opposed to in a cartoon. It was...wow…There really wasn't another word for it. It was like being handed a deep guarded secret pertaining to your life that made things appear more clearly.

Aang and Katara told me that the water bending fighting style was flowing and graceful, like water its self; it was all about acting 'in concert' with your environment. Water bending dealt with the flow of energy. Water benders let their defense become their offense. I was vaguely reminded of several foot ball cheers I had heard while in high school. I pushed the thought from my mind and attempted to focus.

We started simply, pushing and pulling the water between the three of us. Aang stood with me, coaching me in a reassuring voice. I kept my focus, finding it rather easy; as I pushed and pulled the water, I felt oddly calm, like it was soothing busy work.

I wasn't even aware that Katara and Aang had stopped moving the water. "You're doing it, Mae," Katara said. I looked up at her and she was smiling at me brightly. I smiled back and kept it up.

"Why don't you try streaming the water next?" Aang sounded rather excited as he stood to my left.

Night fell before I even realized it; I had gotten so into working with the water that I lost any concept of time. I finally became aware of the passage of time when I couldn't see anymore. Katara, Aang and I walked back into Iroh's apartment which was behind his tea shop. It was nice; a small living area attached to a kitchen and four small guest rooms. There was only one…er; 'bathroom' so things would probably get cramped once Sokka and Suki arrived with Zuko and Mai.

Iroh was sitting at the small kitchen table drinking (guess what!) tea. "Ah, there you all are; the other two young ladies when out to explore the town, so I've been by myself for a while now. How was everything?" Iroh's question was directed to me. Aang and Katara joined the older man at the table.

I remained standing as I spoke. I felt so good, almost well rested and excited. "It was great! Katara and Aang showed me how to stream the water and the water whip!"

Aang smiled at me. "She's a natural," he said. "She and Katara sparred using the water whips and it was super close."

Katara smiled as well. "You're really gifted Mae. You've caught on pretty quickly, and your whips are pretty good for a beginner. Do you think you'd want to continue with it?"

I nodded as I sat down at the table. "Absolutely! You and Aang are amazing teachers! I would love to continue!"

Iroh smiled at my excitement. "It is nice to see someone so eager to learn. Feel free to use my back garden for training over the next few days; the others should be here in three days time."

Katara nodded; Aang laughed. I smiled brightly. I was starting to think that maybe I didn't want to go home. I felt at home for the first time in a long time. "Thank you Uncle Iroh," I said, bowing a little to the older man. "Could you show me how to make tea?"

The old man laughed a booming sound that made me smile. "Of course, little student. We'll make some tea for your bending teachers, to show thanks."

I laughed a little as we both stood and walked over to the small kitchen; Iroh almost seemed as pleased about having a student as Katara and Aang were.

**Hey all! Sorry I didn't update yesterday, we had quite a bit of excitement at my house! We had a cute little dog show up and I named it Bonzoo! Can anyone guess where that name came from?**

**Anyway, here's a new chapter! Don't worry, Zuko and Mai will appear in the next one, along with someone who will stir up some drama! No, not Azula, not quite that evil, but still, drama will ensue! There's going to be a pretty big fight in the next one, so stick around! XXOO BBTM**


	10. Zuko and Mai Bring A New Friend

Two days passed quickly; part of that was due to the fact that I was constantly doing something. Uncle Iroh showed me exactly how to brew tea with the pots available in their world. It was really fun, and he was especially when I produced a pot that tasted good.

I trained in the garden with Katara and Aang, sometimes for hours at a time. After learning the water whip, Katara thought it best to show me some healing techniques. I didn't catch onto those as quickly as I did the combative skills, but I still learned very quickly. Both of my teachers were very pleased.

Ty Lee tried to teach me to cartwheel in front of Iroh's teashop, but it didn't turn out that well. One thing that definitely stuck with me in this world was my lack of balance. It's doubtful that it would improve on my hands as opposed to my feet. Toph didn't really help me too much; she entertained herself during my cart wheeling lessons by bending the earth as I tried to alternate between my hands and feet. Needless to say, my ass got a lot of ground time.

It was early afternoon on the day that Sokka and Suki were supposed to arrive, bringing the Fire Lord and his melancholy girlfriend as well. Apparently, Mai had started living in the palace with Zuko (though the two took to separate rooms). It was considered somewhat scandalous, but then again, the world was changing. Obviously some traditions would change.

Iroh had closed the tea shop for the day in anticipation of his nephew's arrival, and we had all taken to lounging on the front steps. Ty Lee was playing with my hair again, alternating between a pony tail to a bun to pigtails and then back to the pony tail. Aang and Katara were playing a game of Pai Sho with Iroh acting as referee; Toph was lying on her stomach, flicking pebbles out into the road at anyone who went past.

"What's taking them so long?" The blind earthbender sounded annoyed. She flicked a pebble out into the road as small raindrops began to fall. There was an awning keeping us dry.

Katara glanced at the sky and then turned back to her game against Aang. "They're probably flying slowly because of the weather; I'm sure they'll be here soon."

As if on cue a carriage came into view, pulling up to the tea shop. Ty Lee quickly tied my hair up in a pony tail using a pink ribbon before jumping to her feet; she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet excitedly.

We all stood as the carriage came to a stop. The door opened and Sokka was the first to come out. Suki followed behind him, though the two didn't appear very happy and quickly separated from one another. I heard Katara sigh with an "Uh-oh." _That _was going to be a fun fight.

Zuko came out next, stopping beside the door and holding his hand out to help Mai; she scowled lightly at him for the act, but obliged, taking his hand as she got out of the carriage. Zuko smiled a little at the knife thrower before turning toward us. Uncle Iroh came down the stairs and met the young Fire Lord and they embraced. "It's good to see you nephew!"

Zuko smiled as he patted his uncle's back. "It's good to see you too Uncle," he said as the older man released him. "We've brought a new friend with us."

He turned toward the carriage where a young man was stepping out; he was dressed in simple fire nation clothing, black pants and a black sleeveless tunic. His skin was lightly toned, like he had spent a day sitting on the beach.

I froze when he looked up; his dark blond hair was shaggy and he had to shake his head to get it out of his eyes. His eyes were strikingly blue, like looking into the ocean and seeing golden treasures in the sand below.

I stepped forward, my stomach churning. The rain was beginning to come down harder, so the new arrivals began to move toward the tea shop. The young man Zuko referred to as a friend finally looked at me. He stopped, his brow furrowing slightly as he looked me over. "K...Kate?" His voice was exactly the way I remembered it from back home.

I shook my head roughly as I looked at him; I couldn't find my voice and was pretty sure that if I opened my mouth to speak I would be sick.

What was _he_ doing _here?_ Of all the people in the world, in ANY world, why did Jake have to show up here?

Zuko came over to us motioning toward the young man before me. "Everyone, this is Jai; he's um…not from around here."

I couldn't take my eyes off him; my disbelief quickly turned to an icy glare. "No, he's not," I said, my hands tightening into fists at my sides. "He's from my world."

Jai shook his head lightly, seeing the anger in my eyes and held a hand out; he obviously knew that I wasn't happy to see him. "Kate, please…"

"My name isn't Kate!" I slammed my hands into his chest roughly. He stumbled back in shock; I bended the rain out of the air and from the puddles on the ground. I pulled enough water to form the water whip, which I quickly used to lash out at Jai. "Not anymore."

Jai stumbled back slightly, but reacted quickly taking up a fighting stance. "Kate, what is wrong with you?"

I lashed out at him again. "Let's see Jake, for the past year of my life, it's been you!"

As I lashed with my water whip, Jai began to respond; he blocked my various attacks using the backs of his wrists. He winced a little with each blow, but he kept his defenses up.

I lashed my whip at his feet, knocking him down. Aang called from the steps. "Mae, what's wrong?"

I heard Katara's voice chime in as I continued my attack. "Why are you attacking him?"

Jai gave me a questioning look as I bended all the water I possibly could. "Because he needs his ass kicked."

I bended all the water I could at him, somehow getting it to freeze around Jai upon contact. And then I ran, wanting nothing more than to get away from him.

I heard my new friends calling after me as they tried to help my former lover out of his icy prison.

**Whoo! Hope you liked this one!**

**Our new guy is Jake who has adopted the Chinese name Jai in the world of A: tlA. The name means "good, fine" or "home, family" in, duh, Chinese. It sort of has a double meaning which will become clearer as the story goes on.**

**Obviously Mae/Kate doesn't think he's good or fine (though trust me, the man is fine ;)), but it will later turn out that he is a pretty good guy. Dumb, yes, but good overall. The whole 'home/family' meaning of the name was because Jai/Jake reminds Mae/Kate of home and subsequently her family.**

**I actually feel rather smart because of all these connections! I almost want to do a happy dance!**

**Anyway, here you go!**

**R&R!**

**XXOO**

**BBTM**


	11. Jai saves Mae

I ran as fast and as far away as I could. I felt like a coward, but I knew if I stayed and faced my former love…well, let's just say I was kind of worried about how they punished murders in this world.

People and places in Ba Sing Se blurred past me as I ran; I didn't care where I ended up just as long as I got away from Jai. I was finally forced to stop when I slipped on some wet stones. I went down, feeling my chin and the palms of my hands rip open. I heard the fabric of my skirt rip; warmth spread across my knees.

I looked around, trying to figure out where I could possibly be. It was dark because of the storm clouds, but I could tell that I was in the lower ring. The smell told me that I wasn't in the best neighborhood. The stench of piss and prostitutes frightened me, but not as much as the prospect of going back to Iroh's tea shop.

I must have looked pretty pathetic, lying on the ground, crying as it rained. But I didn't know what else I could do. I mean, what would you do if you had been transported to another world, given a new chance at life, and then the former love of your life shows up? After all the ill words he and I had exchanged, it was a miracle that I hadn't killed him as opposed to running away.

I heard footsteps behind me; I froze. When they approached, I – for some dumb ass reason- assumed that if was one of my new friends who had come to find me. When I turned and looked over my shoulder, I saw that it wasn't them. It was a short, thin man with disgusting drunken grin plastered on his ugly face.

"Wass a matter pretty girl?" He took a few steps toward me; I jumped to my feet, beginning to back away, but it was hard to do. My knees were screaming from where I fell and the cloth of my skirt had become awkward when it had ripped. I knew that if he really tried, he would catch me despite his drunken state.

"Nothing," I said, hoping that would be enough to make him leave. When he took another step toward me I backed up again. I found myself against a wall. Fuck monkeys was I in trouble. "I just fell; I'd better be heading home."

The drunken man grinned wider as he reached for me. "Well, yer all dirtee," as he came closer I could smell the alcohol on him. "Why don cha come wiv me and git clenned up."

Just as his hand reached out for my arm I heard a voice call, "Kate, get down!"

I knew it was Jai, and I knew I had better listen to him. I slid down the wall, crouching low on the ground. I pushed off the wall I was pressed against, sliding around old drunker with my chest on the ground. It hurt like hell, but I figured whatever he had planned for me was much, much worse.

Jai, meanwhile, had bended fire – no surprise about what his abilities were; the guy had always been a bit of a pyromaniac. He punched the air in a type of double tap, sending flames at my almost attacker. I scrambled to my feet and ran toward him, not daring to turn and see what had become of the drunken man.

Jai grabbed my hand tightly in his and pulled me behind him, running away from the little alley in the lower ring. "C'mon!"

Once again, places and people became a blur as Jai pulled me behind him. We started out at a run, but slowed once we got out of the lower ring. We were probably half way back to Iroh place before I had the sense to pull my hand from his grasp. I jerked away from him, panting as I spoke. "Thanks for saving me, you ass hole."

I began walking in a different direction than the one he had originally been taking me on, but he came after me. He put his hands on my shoulders and roughly turned me around, forcing me to face him. "What the fuck is your problem?"

God he was handsome when he was pissed. His cheeks, which had been red throughout his childhood and early adolescence no matter what he did, flared as they usually did when he was angry. His eyes were narrow, but I could still see the treasure at the bottom of the ocean.

No, bad Mae! Quick thinking about how handsome your ex-boyfriend is!

I had this overwhelming urge to kiss him. I hadn't done it in so long, and I missed the way his lips felt against mine. I had to squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head in order to clear my thoughts. "I don't know Jai, maybe it's the fact that you just suddenly show up after going around your ass for the past year to avoid me. Maybe it's the fact that jus the sight of you makes me all nervous that I have to run away or I'll risk throwing up everywhere. Or maybe, just maybe it's the fact that I still fucking love you but you've decided to be an immature little ass-hole about the whole thing!"

He was silent for a moment before he shook me gently. "Mae, look at me."

I shook my head defiantly; we must have looked odd to the people of Ba Sing Se as they walked by. But then again, it was pouring down rain and most sensible people were probably inside where it was warm and dry. Jai shook me again, and for reasons that I don't think I will ever understand I opened my eyes.

A misty ocean greeted my eyes; Jai's eyes were misted over with tears as rain soaked his clothes and dripped down his face. "Mae, _I'm sorry._ I don't know how many times I have to tell you how sorry I am before you believe me."

I punched him hard in the chest. His muscles were harder than I remembered, so it hurt my hand to hit him, but I didn't care. "You have a pretty fucked up way of showing it. You left me right before graduation, and the genius excuse you made was 'it's not you, it's me.' Really Jacob? Really?" I punched him in the chest with both of my hands, right then left. He grunted but didn't say anything. He didn't let go of my shoulder either.

"And even after you start dating that little…_bitch_, who did nothing but cut you down and hurt you, you still wouldn't give me a good reason why you left. If you had said you loved her, then maybe I would have gotten over you, but you never said that. You never once said that you loved her!"

Jai's tears flowed down his face, mixing with rain. "Mae, please…"

I knew I was rambling, but I needed to get the words out. I had waited so long to pour it to him that there was no stopping me now. "No Jai! I want you to go away! Get away from me and don't come back, because if you stay, I'll just end up hurting more than I already do!"

"Mae, please-"

I slammed my fists into his chest as hard as I possibly could. He grunted loudly as I spoke. "No! After a year you're finally going to listen to everything I have to say! I wish that I had nev-"

My words were forced to a halt when Jai crushed his lips against mine; his hand had gone from my shoulder to the back of my neck and it now held me firmly in place. His eyes were shut tightly as if he were on a roller coaster and was afraid to look as he was rocketed around. Tears poured out of my eyes as I gave it.

I returned the kiss fueled by all the pent up emotion I had toward this young man. Anger melted into love which faded into lust. I came to my senses when his other hand dropped down to my waist. What the hell was I doing?

I pushed myself away from him; he looked hurt for a moment, but then a peaceful look of understand passed behind his eyes before he reached up to wipe tears away. I turned and ran away, back to Iroh's tea shop. I didn't know what I needed to do, but I knew I needed…someone to talk to. My head was spinning and I needed a friend. As I ran, I made my decision.

"Katara it is."

**Hey all! I hope you enjoyed this one! There was a lot of emotion in this and I actually cried when I ran the dialogue.**

**R&R pwease!**

**Also, to those who may be interested, I've started a Treasure Planet fic that I think will be very good. I know Disney isn't everyone's thing, but hey, I like it. So if you're interested (or if you just want to make me smile really, really big) go check it out and review. It's sort of borderline 'M' and I would really appreciate some feedback.**

**Speaking of 'M' I think I'm going to have to change the rating of this fic. There isn't going to be anything too bad, it's just there's a lot of 'fuck's I believe I'll change it just in case.**

**Anyway, R&R!**

**Until next time!**

**XXOO~BBTM**


	12. Mae and Suki Get Relationship Advice

I walked into the Jasmine Dragon soaking wet, bloodied kneed, and with my dress torn. Katara – bless her mothering spirit- was the first to totally notice my condition and she came to my side. She smoothed some hair out of my face. "What happened?"

I looked to Uncle Iroh, who obviously saw that I needed some privacy away from some ears that might not understand. He hitched a thumb over his shoulder, pointing toward the hallway that led from the shop into Iroh's apartment. I walked quickly, finding the room where most of the girl's were sleeping. I walked in, walked to the wall and put my forehead against it. _Don't cry, not yet._

When I turned, I saw that all the girls had followed me, and they were taking seats on the floor, ready to listen to what had gone down. Katara came up to me, took my hand and had me sit down. "Come tell us what happened."

Mai addressed me for the first time. "Wouldn't mind kicking someone's tail; what'd he do?"

I sat down roughly, sandwiched between Katara and Ty Lee, and I cried. The whole story came out, from the very first time I met Jai until what had just transpired. I could have been talking for hours, but everyone – Katara, Toph, Ty Lee, Suki and Mai – just listened. Katara stroked the back of my head every so often, which helped keep me calm enough to speak.

When I finally finished, Suki stood from her seat, walked over to me and enveloped me in a hug. "Say it with me – guys are jerks."

I hiccupped a response and Suki released me, sitting right in front of me. Toph scooted closer on her right, and Mai followed suit on her left. Ty Lee sat on my left, holding my hand a patting it reassuringly while Katara sat on my right. I sat in silence, tears flowing freely down my face; when ever Jai was the subject of discussion, they were sort of an involuntary reaction.

Ty Lee patted my hand both to make me feel better and to get my attention. "It'll be alright; maybe he…really wants things to be okay between you two."

I shook my head roughly. "It just doesn't make sense; why wait over a year to even try to really apologize to my face?"

Toph put a hand on my knee. "It's probably because he's scared,"

We all cast slightly confused looks to the blind girl before Mai spoke up. "Yeah, I mean, the guy was pretty freaked out when he just appeared in the Capital. He probably wants something familiar to attach to in order to insure that he doesn't lose touch with his world. You just happen to be _very_ familiar."

I blushed slightly; maybe I shouldn't have told them absolutely everything that happen between Jai and I. "I guess that makes sense, but…if he attaches to me, it's just going to tear me apart. I…can't just be his friend. I know that's kind of selfish, but it'll be too hard. I care about him too much."

Katara stroked my head as she spoke. "You should tell him; get out everything you need two. Then let him say his part. The two of you can talk things out after all the emotion fueled words out. This goes for you and Sokka too, Suki."

The Kyoshi warrior looked stricken. "There's nothing for the two of us to discuss; your brother is an immature little jerk."

"I'm not denying that, but he's an immature little jerk who cares about you," Katara said. "I mean, you didn't exactly tell him what was making you so mad, so how can you expect him to understand?"

Toph snorted with laughter. "Yeah, Sokka isn't exactly the smartest guy around; you kind of need to spell things out for him."

I couldn't help but laugh; I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe, and my tears continued to flow. At first the other girls looked at me as if I had finally lost it before they all dissolved into laughter as well. When we finally stopped laughing, we were all wiping tears from our eyes. "Okay," Suki coughed, small laughs still escaping her. "Maybe I should try talking to him before getting mad."

Katara patted Suki's shoulder. "Okay; if he still doesn't get it after you spell it out, then you can kick his butt."

Mai was lounging on a pillow twirling a throwing knife on her index finger. "What about me? I'd like to kick some butt; I made the request earlier, remember?"

Suki stood and began heading toward the door as she spoke to the knife thrower. "You and I can tag team him if it comes to that. How's that sound?"

The knife thrower smirked a little and nodded to the warrior. Suki left the room, obviously in search of Sokka. Katara patted my shoulder gently. "Go talk to him," she said, looking more like a mother than any teenager should. I gave her a quick hug, a thank you for mothering me despite the fact that I was older than her.

I stood quickly and began walking out of the room, but was suddenly flung to the floor. The ground shook roughly, sending everyone down. "Toph! What's going on?" Ty Lee sounded terrified as she called to the earth bender.

As the ground finally settled, Toph placed her hand on the floor, looking around. "Something's happening out in front of the shop!"

We all regained our footing and ran out to the front of the tea shop.

**Muahahaha! I'm the queen of cliff hangers! (Self proclaimed, no offense is meant toward anyone who actually has that title). **

**To those who are worried, don't freak – the adventure part will come in to play in the next chapter. **

**Well, it's more like action that will feed into adventure, but don't worry, we'll get there!**

**R&R pretty please! With whipped cream and a cherry!**

**XXOO~BBTM**


	13. Azula Finally Makes An Apperance

We all ran through the hall toward the tea shop. Katara was close behind me, as were Ty Lee and Suki. Mai and Toph were bringing up the rear as we reached the front door to the tea shop. Out in the storm, which had turned much darker and more violent, stood Aang, Zuko and Iroh, poised in their fighting stances, their backs to us.

Standing in the rain, a deranged smile etched across her face, blue flames dancing around her hands, was Azula. She was in brown prisoner garb; her hair had been cut short and was greasy despite being soaked by rain. I saw Jai and Sokka off toward the side, both appearing to be ready to jump in as needed.

Azula laughed darkly, the flames around her hands growing larger. I couldn't help but yell at Aang, "You let that psycho keep her bending?"

Aang didn't acknowledge me, keeping his concentration of the psycho in question. Azula's laughter quieted before she finally spoke. Her voice was amazingly level and calm for someone who had suffered a mental breakdown not a year ago. "Hello Zuzu; it's so nice to see you again."

Zuko cringed at his hated childhood nickname, but didn't break his stance. Azula couched down into her own fighting stance, looking like a jungle cat prepared to pounce. "It's been far too long; I haven't been able to beat you up in almost a year you know. Tell me, how is that scar on your chest?"

Mai appeared beside me, her hand full of her signature knives. "What the hell do you want Azula?" Mai's eyes were almost as frightening as the former princess's. Note to self: don't piss of Mai.

I think it was Mai's movement that sparked all of us girls to life; we all took up fighting stances. Katara and I bended the water falling around us so we both had enough ammunition to create water whips. Toph stomped on the ground, pulling a bolder twice as big as my head from the ground and preparing to send it flying. Ty Lee and Suki pulled out their fans, ever warriors of Kyoshi despite their lack of makeup.

"Oh, nothing that concerns you Mai," Azula spat Mai's name. "This is between me and my dear older brother."

Zuko tensed a little. "How did you get here Azula?"

The princess scanned the crowd that had gathered before her; she pulled her hand back and then punched the air. Blue flames shot out at Jai and Sokka, who jumped out of the way, Jai to the left Sokka to the right. My heart raced with panic when I thought Jai might have been hit, but when I saw he was alright, panic turned to anger toward Azula.

The tension in the air was so thick I thought I might suffocate. Azula scanned our small crowd, sending flames toward Katara and me. We used our water whips to quell the flames before they could reach us. Azula laughed, her cold gold eyes locked on me. "A new water bender; what disgusting company you keep Zuzu."

Zuko took a leaf out of his sister's book; he punched the air, sending orange-yellow flames at her head. Azula countered, her blue flames meeting Zuko's in the middle of our impromptu fighting ring. Blue crashed into orange, exploding and then dissipating, releasing smoke into the air.

Azula began moving, pulling her brother along with her. They began moving in a clock wise motion, though Azula never put her back toward the rest of us. Once she realized how close she was to being exposed, she would change direction and move counter clockwise.

I was struck with a sudden idea as to how we could take her down. I tried to make eye contact with Katara, who was to my left, but she kept her focus strictly on what was in front of us (particularly Aang, who tensed with every step Azula took). Mai, Toph, Suki and Ty Lee were all standing ahead of me, so there was no way I could make eye contact with them. I looked to my right, saw Sokka and Jai; Jai's gaze met mine, and I was suddenly thankful he was here. We had always had a special way of communicating without words.

My idea must have been hiding in my eyes, and Jai must have seen it, because he nodded a little. I nodded a little in response before beginning to move, very slowly, around Katara out to the sides of the dance occurring between Zuko and Azula. Jai did the same, mirroring my movement, small precise steps.

"You know Zuzu," Azula said, continuing her half dance with her older brother. "It's actually a little funny; I've missed harassing you since I've been away."

"I haven't," Zuko said, not taking his eyes off his sister. "How did you get here Azula?"

The princess smirked before sending flames toward the crowd behind the prince. Thankfully, she didn't break eye contact with her brother; otherwise she would have noticed me as I tried sneak around them both. "You'd be surprised what guards and healers will do with the…right motivation."

Chilling images came to mind; either the princess had tortured them to let her out, or had done something even dirtier. I wanted to shake my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts, but I knew that if I did that, Azula would see me and then…well, best not to think about that.

I chanced a quick look at Jai; he was a mirror of me, almost all the way behind Azula. He nodded a little, I nodded back. I would give him the signal once he was completely behind the crazed princess. Zuko continued to speak to his sister. "Did they bring you here? To Ba Sing Se?"

Azula thought for a moment, sending a random shot of flames at Ty Lee and Suki; they blocked the flames with their fans. Sokka moved closer to his girlfriend, obviously wanting to be of some help to her. "Yes," Azula said, her voice sounding like a mix between a hum and the hiss of a snake. "There are some guards at the facility who…don't really care for you. They wish that Father was still the Fire Lord; they understand how great our nation was!"

Azula shot flames at Aang and Iroh; I'm sure Katara tensed, moving closer to the young Avatar. "The Fire Nation was nothing but a bunch of power hungry, cowardly brutes!" Katara's voice was strong as she spoke. "Zuko is helping the Fire Nation truly move toward greatness!"

At the exact wrong moment, Azula tore her gaze away from her brother; her eyes fell on me and her deranged smile turned into her trademarked poisonous smirk.

Things kind of moved in slow motion for the span of maybe a minute. Azula jumped into the air, bringing her foot down and sending flames at me. Zuko was just out of her line of fire, but I was dead in the center. Emphasis on dead.

I bended water from the air and the ground and flung it toward Azula as hard as I could. I had my hands thrown out in front of me, willing the water forward, praying it would collide with Azula and freeze. I squeezed my eyes shut when I saw her flames burst through my wall of water.

I was off my feet, forced down my some unseen force, but I could tell that it wasn't fire. Not warm enough. I barley opened my eyes and saw the cloudy sky above me. I could smell the fire in the air, feel the heat of it on my skin, but (thank God!) there was no pain.

I heard Azula give an angry cry as Jai yelled, "Toph, now!" I felt the earth move, heard Azula's insane screaming. When I looked up I saw that Zuko had jumped to pin me down; my head suddenly ached when I realized it had smashed into the ground.

Then I saw Jai's face over mine; guess that hit on the head was a bad one- everything was choppy, like a skipping CD. No, more like losing cell phone signal while having a phone conversation. I was only getting partial clips of the overall message.

I was sitting up, blinking hard at the sudden dizziness I felt. Azula was trapped by a tight earth coffin, starting in the ground and going all the way up to her neck. Katara appeared in front of me, trying to look into my eyes. "Mae, can you hear me?"

Hell no I couldn't hear her; my ears were ringing so loud I could actually feel the vibrations. It made my ears itch. I stuck my fingers into my ears and shook them back and forth, trying to relieve the itching.

When I looked back to Azula in her stone prison, Iroh, Toph, Mai and Ty Lee were closing in on her as she writhed around in vain. I hoped that she wouldn't remember that she could shoot flames out of her mouth. Suki and Sokka were not too far behind them, both prepared to attack if necessary.

The pain at the back of my head suddenly melted away, though my confusion lingered slightly. Aang was on my left, asking me a question, but I couldn't quite understand what he was saying. "Wait, what?"

Jai was on my left, and I was vaguely aware of his arm around my shoulders. "Aang asked…ok?"

There was that stupid choppy message thing again. Katara moved around in front of me, checking me over. Her voice managed to get through my muddled mind more than the boys' voices had. Probably had something to do with pitch; I wasn't sure. "She hit her head pretty hard, but she'll be fine. What were you two thinking?"

Jai's voice began to make more sense as he spoke. "Surprise attack," he said. "Get behind her while she's distracted."

I held a hand in the air with my index finger pointed. "What he said," I grumbled, nodding as I spoke.

Aang laughed a little; "She'll be fine," he said before standing and walking over to Iroh. Somehow, the older man and his group of young assistances had managed to get Azula under control. Probably required some sort of drugs; or a quick blow to the back of the head.

Katara seemed to agree with Aang. "Yeah, but we should all probably get out of this rain, or we'll all end up blabbering nonsense."

Jai helped me to my feet as I attempted to make a coherent statement. "I'm not…bumbling…nonsense."

I heard a laugh. "Sure you're not," Jai said, his sarcasm laid on especially thick, just for me. "Sure you're not."

We all moved inside, Toph kicking the earthen straight jacket (for lack of better term) that contained a now unconscious Azula. I dreaded the moment she woke up.

**Hey all! Woo, this was a tough one to right. I was really worried about putting in enough action without overloading the system. **

**I'm going to have a hard time updating over the next few days – my older sis is having surgery – so don't freak out if it's several days before an update. I will be back, I promise.**

**Till then!**

**XXOO**

**BBTM**


	14. Preparing To Leave

It was quickly decided that Azula had to be returned to the mental health facility in the Fire Nation, so Toph, Ty Lee, Mai, Zuko, Suki and Sokka would travel the long way (via train, then boat, then Fire Nation carriage) while Iroh, Aang, Katara, Jai and I would travel on Appa.

I was still a little out of it as I sat at one of the tables in the tea shop, so Jai had taken to sitting beside me, his arm around behind my back to catch me if I fell out. "Are you sure about this?" Aang asked the group that had volunteered to transport the psychotic princess.

Toph had just returned from retrieving her few belongings from what had become the girls' bedroom. "Absolutely," she said, a devilish grin spreading across her face. "I'll get to kick her ass the whole way."

I heard Jai snicker beside me; if was a cute sound, like a hyperactive asthmatic snake. I laughed a little, swaying to and fro. Iroh looked at me and gave me a small smile. "Jai, you should make Mae get some rest; that bump on the head isn't treating her so well."

I opened my mouth to object, but didn't get the chance to; Jai stood up quickly, removing his arm from behind me and I fell backwards onto the floor. I looked up at the ceiling, not entirely sure how I got there as Jai's face appeared over me. "C'mon drunkie," he said with a slight laugh. He knelt beside me, wrapping his arms underneath me, one under my knees, and one around my back and then lifted me up. The sudden movement made me dizzy and I flung my arms around his neck so I wouldn't fall. "I've got you, don't freak out," he said.

I closed my eyes and let my head bump into his chest. Sleep definitely sounded good.

When I opened my eyes, there was bright light pouring in through the window of the girls' bedroom. I groaned, throwing my arms over my eyes in an attempt to block the light out. "Hey, you're finally awake!" Katara sounded rather happy to see my displeased reaction.

"Unfortunately," I grumbled. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and I removed my arms from my face.

Katara laughed a little; she was sitting beside me, her hands folded in her lap. "Here, why don't you sit up and I'll take a look at your head." I did as she told me, sitting up and running my hands through my messy hair as I did so. I definitely needed a bath. As if she read my mind, Katara spoke as she examined the back of my head. "We'll bathe before we leave for the Fire Nation this afternoon; don't worry."

I laughed a little as I felt her brush some of my hair aside to get a better look at the awesome goose egg I was sporting. "So, where is everyone?"

"Everyone who volunteered to handle Azula left last night right after Jai put you to bed. Iroh is making arrangements for a neighbor to take care of the shop and water his plants, and Jai and Aang have gone off to get Appa ready." Katara must have finished her inspection because she stood up and held her hand out to me. "Everything looks fine," she said, helping me to stand. "I expect that you should make a full recovery."

"Yippee," I said in a flat tone as I stood. "Can I please get something to clean my hair now? I feel disgusting."

Katara laughed as she showed me the way to the wash room, where I quickly scrubbed myself clean from head to toe. Once I finished – and once I felt very clean – I dressed in the fresh clothes Katara had brought me. The bindings that served as my under clothes were a pain to figure out, let alone to get on, but once I figured it out, I was rather proud of myself.

The clothes were earth kingdom standard – dark green pants with matching shoes, a light green tunic with a yellow long sleeved shirt underneath. Everything was trimmed in yellow; Katara had even gotten a hold of a yellow ribbon, which I used to tie my hair back into its short spunky ponytail.

Once I was satisfied that I looked presentable, I exited the room, walking out into the tea shop. Everyone was sitting around a table, enjoying a cup of tea; I heard a loud groan from outside, alerting me to Appa's presence. Jai gave me a small wave from the table motioning that there was an empty seat beside him. I sighed; figuring it was best for me to try to get along with him despite the fact my conscious was constantly yelling at me "He might hurt you again! Don't do it!"

I sat down beside him, making sure there was at least six inches of space between us. "So," I said, addressing everyone at the table. "When do we leave?"

"After this pot of tea is empty," Iroh said, pouring a cup and handing it to me. "It's ginger root! I hope you like it."

I took a sip; it was better than the chrysanthemum tea. I smiled as I drank it. Aang and Katara were sitting side by side across from Jai and me, while Iroh sat at the head of the table. "So," I started again. "How long will it take us to get to the Fire Nation? And how long will it take the others to get there?"

Aang finished off what was left in his tea cup before he spoke. "Well, on Appa it'll take up us about two days to get to the Capital; it should take the others about a week."

I groaned. "A week? Gotta feel sorry for them. Imagine being stuck with that psycho for a week."

Iroh chuckled. "Imagine how Zuko feels – he was stuck with her for the majority of his life."

Jai shuddered beside me. "Sounds like hell."

Everyone else muttered in agreement as we all finished off our tea. Realizing that it was time to go, we all scurried about, making last minute checks on things around the shop. Iroh's neighbor, Ju, had agreed to water Iroh's many plants during his absence.

Once everything was settled and locked up, we all climbed onto Appa and were off to the Fire Nation Capital with a quick 'Yip Yip.'

**Hello out there! I've returned! I'm not too proud of this chapter, but it was just one of those things that had to occur; don't worry though, there will be plenty of comedy and romance in the next chapter while everyone travels to the Fire Nation.**

**Also, I've got a request: I'm looking for anyone who is on Deviantart who would be willing to collaborate with me on character sketches. I'm not very good at drawing, see, and so if anyone is willing to lend a helping hand involving any of my stories, it would be greatly appreciated.**

**So, yeah, R&R check out my other stuff, and I'll see you next time!**

**XXOO~BBTM**


	15. Going To The Fire Nation Capital

Seeing as we departed from Ba Sing Se in the afternoon, it wasn't too long before we were forced to land and set up camp for the night. Since it was just Aang, Katara, Iroh, Jai and I, we all did a bit of work to get camp set up. Aang unloaded Appa while Katara set up the tent, which we all decided Iroh would have. Jai was sent to find some food while I was in charge of getting wood for the fire.

It wasn't hard for me to find plenty of wood for the fire, seeing as we landed near the edge of a forest. I gathered up as much as I could in my arms and turned to start heading back to the camp when I slammed into Jai's chest. I yelped, caught off guard by his sudden appearance. My arm load of fire wood fell to our feet; when I looked back up at him, he had just returned his gaze to me. "What the _hell_ Jai?"

I stooped down to pick up the wood that I had dropped. As I started to come back up, I managed to bash my head into Jai's chin. He cursed as I groaned and rubbed my still sore head. "Jai, why are you here? You're supposed to be finding some food for dinner!"

"I did," he said, holding up what appeared to be a small fuzzy creature.

I rolled my eyes at him. "What's Aang supposed to eat? He doesn't eat meat you dumb ass."

I tried to push around him, but Jai held his other arm out in front of me to stop me. "Mae, what the fuck is your problem? I mean, are you on the rag or something, because you're acting all pissy for no reason."

I scoffed as I cradled the fire wood to my chest. "I'm taking preventative measures," I said, pushing past him and beginning to walk back toward camp.

Jai ran in front of me, grabbing my shoulder and forcing me to stop and look at him. "Preventative measures for what?"

I huffed at him, trying to remain as composed as I possibly could. "I don't want to get too attached to you, Jai," I said finally before pushing past him again. "I know that as soon as I do and I start to think, 'Wow, thing's might actually turn out okay,' you're going to run off with your tail between your legs, and sorry, but I don't want to be let down _again_."

Jai got in front of me and threw down the dead creature he had been carrying. "Damn it Mae, _I'm sorry!_ How many times do I have to say it before you get it? I fucked up, I'll admit it! I fucked up my whole life the moment I let you go!"

I shook my head, tightening my grip on the fire wood in an attempt to keep myself from reaching out and punching Jai in the face. "Yeah, I'm aware of that; everyone's aware of that. You fucked up big time; but now that you're here in this strange world, you're trying to attach to something familiar, and as much as the thought of getting along with you makes me happy, the thought of getting hurt by you again is enough to turn me into a cold hearted bitch."

Once again, I attempted to push past him, but Jai reached out quickly, grabbing both of my wrists firmly in his hands. I dropped the fire wood on top of the dead animal that Jai had thrown down. Jai pulled my arms out to the sides; his grasp was firm but gentle. "You have the nerve to call _me _immature? You're sitting here, constantly bitching at me about how much I hurt you; I get it! I fucking got it the day I broke up with you! Quit throwing it back in my face!"

I rose up onto my toes, making my glaze be on the same level as Jai's. "You deserve to have it thrown in your face; you deserve to fucking drown in it. I can honestly say that I _hate_ the person you became, and if I knew when we met how things would end up, I would never have talked to you at Suki's party. I would never have talked to you, wouldn't have dated you, wouldn't have made love with you, and I sure as hell wouldn't have agreed to marry you!"

I attempted to jerk my arms out of his grasp, but he wouldn't let go; his hands tightened slightly as he gaze grew dark. "What the hell do you want me to do? What can I do to make things right?"

I glared at him as his grip continued to tighten. "I don't know," I said. It wasn't till then that I really realized that I had no idea how things could ever be okay between us. There was too much anger, too much hurt. How could that all be erased? "Now let me go."

Jai's glare darkened before he flung my wrists from his grasp. He started to stalk back into the forest, leaving his dead creature at my feet. "Where the hell are you going?" I called after him as I began picking up my fire wood. I noticed that my wrists were red from where Jai had been holding onto them.

"Going to get something that Aang will eat!"

I shook my head, picking up the dead animal and returning to camp.

**XD XD XD**

About an hour later, a fire was going good and strong; Iroh had set up a tea pot while Katara tended to the small creature that would become dinner for everyone who ate meat. Jai still hadn't returned to camp with food for Aang, which made me even angrier at him. Aang was sitting with his back against Appa, absent mindedly running his fingers through the fur on the bison's leg.

I sat beside him, picking at my fingernails, causing a rather annoying clicking sound to resonate through the quiet camp. Iroh sighed as he glanced at me from across the fire. "Is there something you would like to talk about?"

Aang and Katara both glanced at me as I continued to pick my fingernails. "No," I said with a tone of finality.

Katara sighed as she began cooking the meat by holding it over the fire on a stick. "It's not good to pick at your nails like that; you'll wind up pulling them off."

I stopped picking my nails and took to chewing on my right pinkie nail. Aang glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "You two are stuck together you know; it would be good for everyone if you tried to get along."

I took my nail out of mouth and took to tracing images in the dirt in front of me. "I don't want to…"

"Get attached, I know," Aang said. "I understand. You've already given him a chance and he hurt you. You don't want to get hurt again. We get it. But…pain is a part of life. Going out of your way to try and prevent it means you go out of your way to keep from truly living."

I sighed; Damn Aang and all of his infinite wisdom. I patted Aang's knee and gave him a soft smile. "You know, you're a pretty good Avatar."

Aang gave me a toothy grin. "I try."

Iroh chimed in from across the fire. "You can always look at things this way Mae: The more you care about someone, the more you are able to be angry with them. Acquaintances know only like and dislike; it takes true friendship for one to be able to love or hate."

I laughed a little. "The more you love someone, the more you want to kill them," I said in a sing song voice. God bless Avenue Q.

Katara gave me a bewildered look. "Another song from your world, right?" When I nodded she smiled a little. "Sounds like an interesting place."

I nodded with a smile as the woods began to rustle. Jai entered the camp, his shirt having been torn off and made into a make shift carrying pouch. "Aang, sorry it took me so long," he said, walking over to the Avatar and presenting him with the shirt. "I got as many leechie nuts as I could find, and there's some berries and an apple in there."

Aang smiled happily as he pulled out a large red apple. "Thanks Jai!" Aang took a huge bite out of the apple, smiling as he chewed. "You're the best."

I cleared my throat and Jai looked to me. I couldn't help but blush as I looked him over. His muscles were more toned than they had been the last time I had seen him shirtless. _No, bad! Quit thinking about how attractive he is! But it's so easy! No!_

I shook my head and then stood. "Can I uh…talk to you for a second?"

Jai heaved a sigh, clearly not enthused by the prospect. He put his hands on his hips – just along the waist band of his pants- as he thought. "Sure," he finally said.

I nodded and then turned, leading the way around Appa's tail to the other side of the large creature. I saw Momo lounging on the ground on the deserted side of the giant bison. "Hey Momo; why don't you go see Aang? He's got some leechie nuts that I'm sure he's willing to share."

The lemur chirped lightly before climbing across Appa.

I turned to face Jai, grateful that it was getting dark; I could just feel his glare on me. I didn't really need to see it too. "Look, I-"

"I don't want to hear it Mae," Jai's voice was frighteningly calm. "Look…I don't know what I can possibly do to make things right again. I don't. And you were right – I am latching onto something familiar. I'm freaked about being here, and when I saw you back at Iroh's shop, I just…" He ran a hand through his hair as he thought. "It's not right for me to try and cling to you, and I'm sorry. I'll give you some space."

He turned and started to walk away. "Jai, wait," I said, walking after him, my hand out in front of me. Jai turned back around and my hand smacked into his chest. I didn't have much depth perception in the dark. "I just wanted to say…I'm sorry. I've been a bitch because I'm scared of getting my heart broken…"I closed my hand into a tight fist and tapped it lightly on Jai's bare chest. "I convinced myself that I loved you too much to be just your friend, but that's not true. If I love you enough to hate you, that means that I care about you enough to be your friend when you need me."

I tapped his chest one last time before turning to walk back around Appa. "I just wanted to let you know that," I said, turning away.

"Mae, can I…" I turned back. Jai heaved a sigh before holding his arms open to me; I could just barely make out a small smile on his face.

I smiled a little as I walked back over to him and let him wrap his arms around me. He exhaled slowly as I returned the embrace, pressing my cheek into his shoulder. It felt nice; almost like the first time I hugged him when we were fifteen years old. I closed my eyes and gave him one last squeeze before I released him. "C'mon," I said, leading the way around Appa. "Let's eat some dinner."

**XD XD XD**

That night things were remarkable peaceful. The next morning, we headed out early, just before dawn. "If we fly nonstop," Aang said once we were in the air. "We'll make it to the capital by night fall."

Jai and I didn't talk much, but the silences we shared were comfortable. I mostly spent the flight talking with Iroh, Katara and Aang, asking questions about their world and answering questions about mine in return.

As the sun began to dip down below the horizon, I saw it. Capital Island came into view with its beautiful architecture and large palace came into view.

**Hello all! Gah, the chapter was kind of tough to write, but I did it! Hive five me!**

**Okay, so I've decided something: I'm only going to post a new chapter if I get reviews, so if you want more: review!**

**Until next time!**

**XXOO~BBTM**


	16. We Meet The Boss In This Whole Situation

It was after night fall when we finally landed in one of the large court yards of the palace on Capital Island. Several servants met us, the majority of whom took charge of getting Appa to the large barn they had set up just for him. One of the servants, a young man around the age of twenty- dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes- bowed to Aang. "Greetings Avatar; my name is Jing. I'll be showing you and your friends to your rooms."

We all acknowledged Jing with nods of our heads; his gaze caught mine after I brought my head back up. He averted his eyes quickly, not wanting to be caught staring. But before he looked away, I saw something. I furrowed my brow at him as he began leading us into the palace to find our rooms. Jing lead us down long hallways, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would wind up getting lost in this place.

Jing stopped at the end of one particular hallway and turned to face us; his back was to an open window and he was lighted from behind by the moon. "Gentlemen, your room is on the left; ladies, on the right. Please let us know if you need anything. Oh, General Iroh," he said, holding a hand out to the older man. "We have a room prepared for you closer to the family quarters."

Iroh laughed and began speaking about how he was perfectly fine in the guest rooms as Jing led him away. The servant cast me one last look, and that time I was positive about the look I received. This guy was not happy to see me, and to be totally honest, it freaked me out beyond belief.

Katara and I walked into our room and I shut the door behind us; I would have locked it but there wasn't a way to do that. "Katara," I started. The water bender had already claimed one of the four beds that sat in an 'X' shape. She was sitting on the edge pulling her shoes off of her feet. "Something's up with that Jing guy."

Katara gave me a confused look as she finished with her feet and began to take her hair down. "What do you mean?"

I ran a hand through my bangs (since my hair was pulled back into a ponytail) as I sat on the edge of the bed to the right of Katara's. "I don't know what his problem is, but if looks could kill, I would have stopped breathing the second we got here."

Katara looked confused again as she finger combed her hair. "I don't know; you look pretty different from people here, maybe he's just caught off guard by your appearance."

I nodded before flopping back onto the bed. I was probably just being paranoid; yet another thing I kept in my transition between worlds. I didn't have much time to think about it anyway; I was out like a light a few moments after I laid down.

**XD XD XD**

I woke just after sunrise the next morning and found fresh clothes sitting at the foot of my bed. They were very pretty fire nation clothes, a pair of pants and a sleeveless tunic in black and red and trimmed with gold. As I quickly changed, I noticed that Katara wasn't in the room; I assumed that she had gotten up earlier. I located a mirror in the corner of the room and used it to fix my hair – tying it up into a pony tail using my yellow earth kingdom ribbon- before opening the door and walking out of the room.

The door the boys' room was open; I crossed the hall and poked my head in but saw that they weren't in there. I was starting to wonder why no one had woke me up as I began walking down the hall, trying to remember how to get to the courtyard we had landed in the night before.

Hell, I would have been happy to just find people; at least then I could have asked for directions or where my friends had gone. I wandered around for what felt like forever (but what was probably more like ten minutes) and I didn't see anyone. That was a little worrisome, but I tried to not let it bother me as I combed my way through the halls of the palace.

I finally heard the murmuring of voices at the end of yet another long hallway, and I got excited. I thought I had just found my friends, so I ran to the door they were behind. I started to pull the door open, but stopped when I heard the conversation occurring on the other side.

"Jing, I think you're just getting all wound up for no reason. I mean, there's no way to prove that they're the same people from the prophecy."

"Oh, shut it Ling; they have to be! You know it! The prophecy says-"

"I know, I know! 'After the defeat of the great king, a warrior and maiden from a foreign world will come to help his successor defeat the final threat.' I know the story just as well as you do, Jing."

"Ling, those two are the ones from the prophecy and you know it. We've got to get rid of them before Zuko returns-"

"_If_ Zuko returns, brother; remember, we released his sister to go after him."

I froze. Whoever this Jing and Ling were, they were the ones behind Azula's 'escape' from the mental health facility. And they wanted me and Jai gone. I released a shaky breath as I backed away from the door as slowly and quietly as I could. Jing laughed, a low and frightening sound, before he spoke again. "Well, no time like the present to take care of our…_guests…_" The door began to open.

I bolted; seriously, I ran like I stole something. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going; all I could think was "Get the hell outta there!"

I took a sharp turn around a corner and my body slammed into something; no someone. I was sent flying backwards, slamming into the ground ass first, which hurt. "Gah, there went my tail bone," I hissed as I looked up at who I had run into.

Iroh was holding his hand out to me. "Oh, I'm so sorry Mae! Are you alright?"

I took his hand and pulled myself up. "Yeah, I'm ok. Where are Aang, Katara and Jai?"

Iroh thumbed over his shoulder. "Why, they're out in the garden; I was actually just coming to look for you-"

"C'mon!" I said, grabbing the old man's hand and quickly walking in the direction he indicated, dragging him along behind me.

A few moments later, I was walking out into a garden; I saw the others sitting beside a small pond, feeding turtle ducks. When Jai saw me, he gave me a small wave, but when he noticed the worried look on my face, he frowned. "We've got a problem you guys," I said as Iroh and I finally came to stand before them.

Aang tossed the last bit of bread he had in his hand before turning to look at me. "What's the matter?"

I sat down quickly and told them everything I had heard in a low voice, glancing over my shoulder every so often to make sure Jing hadn't shown up. I didn't know what Ling looked like, so I was kind of screwed if he decided to show up, but no servants so much as walked by while I spoke. When I finished, Jai and Katara both had worried looks, while Aang looked rather calm.

Aang looked to Iroh. "What prophecy do you think they're talking about?"

Iroh grunted as he sat down on the ground beside me. "There is an old legend of a blind hermit-"

"Do you mean a crab?" Aang asked, suddenly sounding more like a thirteen year old than an infinitely wise Avatar.

"No, I mean a recluse. Anyway, the legend is of an old hermit who told people's fortunes-"

"Kind of like-"Katara started excitedly, but Iroh shot her a look and she quickly stopped. "Never mind."

Iroh cleared his throat before continuing. "_As I was saying,_ the hermit told peoples' fortunes and told prophecies that related to the greatness of his nation. One particular prophecy that he spoke told of a warrior and a maiden from another world."

Jai and I glanced at each other. I wouldn't have exactly pinned him as the warrior type, but it wasn't up to me. Iroh continued. "The hermit said that a year after the defeat of the great and terrible ruler of the Fire Nation, a rebellion would begin to form. The warrior and maiden were said to be the tools that would lead to the defeat the final threat against the nation and the Fire Lord."

I nodded slowly. "Well, now we know _why_ we're here," I said, running a hand through my bangs. "But we've got a problem – they want Jai and me out of the picture _before_ Zuko gets back. That gives them, what? Four days to…" I pulled my index finger across my neck.

Aang put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry; we're not going to let anything happen to you or Jai. We're just going to have to lay low until Zuko gets back. Don't go anywhere alone. Katara, Iroh and I will keep an eye on the both of you."

I nodded, running a hand through my bangs again. Despite the Avatar's assuring words, I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I knew that there was going to be a major battle, and I had the worst feeling that someone wasn't going to make it out alive.

**Hoozah! At last, an actual plot comes to light! The end will be coming pretty soon, sad to say, but I hope everyone is excited about finding out how everything ends!**

**About the whole 'if you want a new chapter, review' thing…I know it's a low and semi dirty blow, but hey *shrug* it works. Reviews are like crack to me; I've got to get my fix somehow lol!**

**Just to let you know, updating might become a little infrequent in the next week or so; I'm starting my first summer course and that's going to be occupying a lot of my time. I paid almost a thousand bucks for the damn thing so…yeah; my mind is going to be on that. But don't worry; I will do my best to update as often as I possibly can!**

**Until Next Time! XXOO~BBTM**


	17. Forming A PlanSort Of

How we managed to survive the four and a half days that it took Zuko and the others to arrive at the Capital, I'll never know. Katara stayed with me twenty-four seven; her excuse to anyone who asked was that she was attempting to keep a close eye on her pupil. Jai and Iroh had a similar arrangement until night time, when Aang took over.

I didn't get much sleep; I mean, if you knew that someone wanted you dead, would you be willing to sleep without a lock on your door? I would think not. Katara tried to reassure me as best she could, but late at night, after Katara had fallen asleep, every creak and squeak set my mind into motion. Scenarios of Jing and Ling sneaking into our room to smother me/stab me/ kidnap then maim and torture me kept my eyes wide open. When the sun would finally come up, I'd be in tears of both joy at having survived the night and of pure exhaustion.

Jai was handling things much better than I would have expected; he managed to sleep and not be paranoid all the time like I was. On day four, we were sitting out in the garden drinking tea with Iroh. I stared blankly at the turtle ducks in the pond as Iroh, Aang and Katara attempted to have a cheerful conversation. My back was against the tree that was providing us with shade; Jai sat on my right. "Hey," he said in a soft voice. He reached out and patted my knee which I had drawn up to my chest. "It's going to be okay, I promise."

I cast him a look and nodded a little. "Something bad is going to happen; someone's not going to make it out of this in one piece."

Jai put an arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him resting my head on his bare chest. He was just wearing a pair of black training pants; Iroh had been spending a lot of time training him in fire bending. Jai was very gifted, probably even more naturally talented than Azula was. No one could really explain why he and I were so gifted at bending our respective elements. I had the feeling that it would probably remain a mystery.

Jai heaved a sigh and rubbed my left shoulder reassuringly. "I _will not_ let anything happen to you, Mae. I swear."

I closed my eyes; his skin was warm against my cheek and I could hear his heart beating lightly. "It's not me I'm worried about," I said, snuggling closer into him. I knew I probably shouldn't, but I was tired and Jai was really comfortable and warm.

Jai patted my shoulder gently as he lowered his head closer to mine. His lips just barley brushed my hair. "You need to go get some sleep."

I jumped slightly, pulling away while stretching. "No I don't."

Jai laughed a little as he pulled his arm from around my shoulders. "Yeah you do; you look like a zombie."

"You do look like you could go for a nap," Aang had walked over to us. He gave me a smile. "We'll keep an eye on you; first sign of trouble, we'll wake you up, Avatar's honor."

I shook my head and quickly stood; the sudden movement made me dizzy. That in combination with the fact that I was dog tired sent me falling forward. Jai managed to jump up and catch me before I face planted, but my reaction to standing had made him make a decision. "That's it, you're going to get some sleep; Now."

He helped me to stand back up; I leaned back against the tree, holding a hand out to him and Aang who both looked ready to carry me off and force me to sleep. "No, I'm fine; just a little dizzy."

Katara had wandered over. "Mae, go get some sleep. I'll come sit in the room and keep an eye on you if you want."

I rolled my eyes, looking up into the branches of the tree in exasperation. "I want you guys to leave me alone. I'm not going to go take a nap like a five year –Ah!" Jai had walked over to me and quickly swept me up into his arms bridal style. "Jai, put me down, or so help me, I'll-"

"You're going to go lie down and take a nap, so shut up and deal with it Mae," he said, walking back into the palace and down the hallway.

I glared at him, trying to hold myself up to look at him without handing on to him. "And since when do you get to boss me around, Jai?"

Jai smirked at me. "I'm older, so you have to listen to me. And you'd better hang onto me; holding yourself up like that will strain your neck."

I rolled my eyes, but decided it was best not to argue with him at that point. I wrapped my arms around his neck, but made sure that my gaze remained fixed on the wall. Jai finally came to the end of the hallway that had our guest rooms, but I became confused when he began to enter the boy's room. "Uh, Jai, what are you doing?"

Jai kicked the door closed behind him and then walked over to one of the beds. They were set up just like the ones in the girls' room, in an 'X' shape. "Making you lie down for a nap."

"Uh, why did you bring me in here?"

Jai sighed as he gently set me down on the bed. "Well, it would be highly inappropriate for me to go into the girls' room," he said, gazing down at me, his hands on his hips.

I had trouble focusing on him for a moment because I just remembered that he was shirtless. I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts (which failed epic-ly) and averted my gaze to the floor. "So you thought it was more appropriate to bring me into the boys' room?"

Jai sighed, reaching out and pushing my shoulder gently, trying to get me to lie down. "Just get some rest Mae."

I sighed in defeat before flopping down onto the pillow and then rolled onto my side. When I inhaled, I breathed in Jai's scent; this oddly intoxicating combination of soap, spices, and burnt sandalwood. I rolled back over and look at him; he had taken a seat on one of the other beds. "What?" He asked, running a hand through his blonde hair.

"This is your bed," I said. I began toying with the corner of the pillow as I spoke, still trying to avert my eyes. I was pretty sure that if I looked anywhere but him I would be able to maintain focus enough to form at least a sentence. "What are you going to do?"

Jai raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to sit and watch you sleep."

Okay, that comment was enough to make me look at him. "Jai, you've got the attention span of a three year old," I said, giving him a disbelieving look. "You're not going to be able to just sit there and watch me sleep for God knows how long." I let out a large yawn without meaning too. Lying down in a soft, good smelling bed was draining me of what little energy I had left.

"Well, then, what exactly am I supposed to do?" Jai asked, rolling his eyes. He was probably thinking, "Just hurry up and fall asleep."

I shook my head before rolling over and scooting toward the side of the bed I was facing. "As long as you don't try to rape me…" I didn't get to finish before I felt him lie down behind me.

Jai laughed, a dark, throaty sound that had a hint of a playful growl in it. "You know you can't rape the willing," he said, his hand lightly skimming my backside.

I cast him a look over my shoulder. "_You're_ the one who insisted on me taking a nap," I said, reaching behind me and pulling his right arm over my waist, holding his hand lightly as it rested against my stomach. "And just what makes you think I'm willing?" I knew that the statement was pointless, because Jai knew that I _was_ willing, even though I shouldn't have been.

Jai laughed again, sliding his other arm under the pillow. "Fine, you win. Sleep well; I'll keep you safe," he said. I could have sworn that I felt him kiss the back of my head. Damned wishful thinking that I shouldn't have been having. I didn't get a chance to respond before I fell asleep.

**XD XD XD**

The next thing I was totally aware of was Jai shaking my shoulder to wake me up. I groaned up at him. "C'mon, Mae, the others have finally gotten here; Aang's here to take us to meet them."

I rolled out of the bed, shaking my head lightly in an attempt to wake myself up. Jai took my hand and began pulling me to the door. Aang was waiting, leaning against the door frame making three marbles spin around each other just above his hand. "Ready? Let's go," he said, not waiting for a response.

Aang led us down hallways, out of the housing part of the palace and into what I assumed was the…well, business part. Aang led us into a large meeting room with a long table; I was vaguely reminded of the conference room from my high school. Zuko was sitting at the head of the table at the opposite end of the room. Mai was to his right, then Ty Lee ,Toph and Iroh. On Zuko's left were Sokka, then Suki and Katara.

I smiled a little and waved to my friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Mai nodded, Ty Lee waved happily, Sokka saluted to me with his index finger, and Suki gave me a small wave. Aang closed the door behind us, and I was very happy to hear a dead bold slid into place. "Alright, now that we're all here," Zuko said, glancing around the room. "What exactly happened while we were away?"

Everyone looked to me, and I quickly recounted the tale of hearing Jing and Ling speaking about getting Jai and I 'out of the way' so that they could successfully over throw the Fire Lord. I also added in my own comments concerning my inability to sleep the past three nights due to paranoia concerning the previously mentioned servants.

Once I finished, Zuko nodded before speaking. "Alright, first thing we'll need to do is take Jing and Ling into custody-"

Sokka held a hand up to stop Zuko. "I don't think that's such a good idea; if their plans for a rebellion are as big as we've heard, there's got to be someone else within the palace who can take the reins if the two main bosses get taken out."

I nodded in agreement. I had thought about what we could possibly do, and hadn't been able to come up with much. "I was thinking we could use Toph," I said.

Toph pounded a hand into her fist. "Awesome! Heads are going to roll!"

I shook my head, forgetting that Toph was blind. I cleared my throat to get her attention. "Actually, I was thinking we could use your lie detection skills. Zuko, you could say that something valuable has been stolen, and we'll interview members of the staff."

Suki appeared to catch on to the plan. "While we're interrogating people, we can segue the questions into ones concerning the rumored rebellion and the plot against Zuko. Toph will be able to tell us if someone is giving false answers-"

"And we can nab them and get them out of the palace!" Aang finished before looking at me. "That's actually pretty smart."

I nodded a little. "I'm just a little worried that they might get smart about it; I don't know what we'll do if that happens."

Zuko nodded in agreement. "We're just going to have to hope that doesn't happen. Starting tomorrow, Toph, Iroh, Aang and I will interview palace workers. Everyone else will need to lay low and make sure nothing happens to Jai or Mae."

Everyone nodded and we were dismissed to bed. It was after sun down, and despite the fact that I had slept the past couple of hours, I was looking forward to going to sleeping while feeling a little safer. Toph would be able to let us know if someone was walking down the hallway, let alone sneaking into the room. I heaved a sigh of relief as me, Katara, Ty Lee and Toph walked back to our room. Sleep sounded very good.

**Woo, here's another one. I've been working hard on this one all day (and attempting to watch Burn Notice to get all caught up for the season premiere); sorry it took so long.**

**Let me know what you think! I'll update again soon!**

**Until Next Time!**

**XXOO~BBTM**


	18. Attacked

I slept better that night than I had in days; the comforting sound of my friends' snoring was better than a mother's lullaby. I was awakened by Ty Lee, who had cut a flip and then landed sitting Indian style on the foot of my bed. "Wake up!" She called; I pulled myself from sleep with a groan before sitting up, running a hand through my hair.

Katara was sitting on the edge of her bed to my left. She was attaching her hair loopies as she spoke. "Mae, I was thinking that maybe we could work on your water bending out in the garden today. Do you feel up to it?"

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, wishing I could go back to bed. Hey, when you're barley slept in four nights, you want to soak up as much sleep time as you can. "Sure," I said, despite the fact I really didn't want to. I knew that I needed to train. "Just let me get changed."

**XD XD XD**

A few short (but extremely hard) hours later, I was resting under a tree beside the pond that Katara and I had been pulling water from to use in water bending attacks against each other. The challenge had been to deflect attacks and try to make it to where your opponent couldn't attack you. Naturally, since I was up against a water bending master, I got my ass handed to me.

Now, soaking wet, sore and tired, I sat under the tree, hoping that Katara would allow me enough time to at least dry out before she started drowning me again. I leaned my head back against the tree and let my eyes drift closed.

"Hey."

It was Jai's voice; I didn't even bother to open my eyes to look at him. "Hey," I said in return.

"You looked great out there," he said. I felt him sit down beside me. "I never would have thought that you would be a good fighter."

"After a year, people change," I said, finally letting my eyes fall open again. "Had to channel my anger at you somehow."

Jai cleared his throat; I glanced at him from the corner of my eye for a moment. He had a slightly nervous look on his face. I guess hearing about my anger frightened him a bit. Wise choice. He was wearing a fire nation outfit similar to mine: black pants, black sleeveless tunic. The seams of his clothes were trimmed in gold while mine were trimmed in red. His hair was hanging down in his face while mine was pulled back into a pony tail and secured with a strip of ribbon. He had his legs stretched out in front of him. I glanced down at his feet. He was bare footed, his toes wiggling slightly. I laughed a little; the 'wiggle your big toe' scene from Kill Bill Volume 1 had popped into my head.

Jai cleared his throat again. "What are you laughing at?"

"Wiggle your big toe," I said. Jai laughed a little. When I glanced at his face again I saw that he had relaxed slightly. I stretched my arms up over my head, trying to relieve some of the tension my shoulders held. I turned my head and looked at Jai fully. "Want to spar?"

Jai looked a little surprised for a moment before a cocky smirk spread across his face. "Eager to get your ass kicked again, huh?"

I scoffed at him as I stood up. "Please, you wish. You know that I could whip you anytime, anywhere."

Jai stood and followed me toward the pond; I went to one side of it while he went to the opposite. I fell into my favored stance – right foot forward slightly, feet angled out like a dancer, my hands raised the right one out to match my foot. "Ready?" I asked.

Jai fell into his own fighting stance which was a perfect mirror image of mine. His cocky grin grew wider. "Mae, you're going down," he said.

And the bending battle commenced. Jai and I threw attacks at one another, both of us dodging and countering sharply and quickly. Fire slammed into water, reducing it to steam over the pond. Oddly, it was a relatively even match. Jai was quick on his feet, dancing back and forth on his side of the pond while still keeping his eyes on me and my attacks.

My foot work wasn't the best (Katara said I was improving but still needed work. You really can't stay that stationary in a fight.). Fortunately for me, I was good at twisting my torso around just to the right angle, allowing me to attack Jai head on without moving my feet too much.

Jai punched and kicked fire toward me from across the pond and I countered quickly with whips of water. I sent small ice daggers flying at him, but he easily dodged and then attacked me again.

I'm not sure how long we sparred; I could have done it all day. He was mesmerizing, his movements quick and sharp yet graceful at the same time. Thankfully the part of my brain that just wanted to sit and watch him move didn't have much pull over me; I continued to attack and counter him, trying my best to win against him.

I took a quick glance at the others who were resting beneath a tree a few yards off. Katara was watching my movements, making small gestures and talking to herself as she watched. Ty Lee was sitting in between Mai and Toph, who were lazily gazing off in opposite directions (though Toph couldn't really gaze seeing as she was blind, but you get what I mean.)

I saw some movement up in the branches of the tree; _probably just a cat,_ I thought. Jai bended a particularly large fire blast at my head, and I was barely able to dodge it. "Yo, wake up!" He called to me before attacking again.

I countered, pulling up a large wall of water in front of me. "I am awake you jerk wad!"

I pulled up a second curtain of water, moving my hands up like a bird spreading its wings. There was swift movement to my right. "For Fire Lord Ozai!" a voice called.

You know how when something epic happens, most people tend to see things in slow motion? Yeah, that didn't happen. I saw someone clad completely in black jump from the tree that the others were resting under. I heard Jai call my name; I blinked and then the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back. When I had my wits back about me, I realized that Jai was lying on top of me. How the hell he got over to my side of the pond was beyond me. "Jai, what the hell's-"

I pushed up slightly, Jai rolled off of me to the right, and that's when I saw it; blood. There was blood everywhere, on me, on Jai, covering the ground. I looked at Jai's face to see that it was screwed up in pain. His left arm was across his chest, his hand clasped tightly around a wound in the upper part of his right arm. "Oh my God, Jai!"

His arm was swelling literally before my eyes and becoming discolored. I sat up on my knees, not sure what I should do. "Katara, help!" I looked over toward the tree everyone had been resting under, but they were gone. When I looked around, I saw that Katara was running toward us from my right. Mai and Ty Lee were standing in front of a large stone coffin that Toph had conjured and was using to hold the man in black.

Katara knelt beside me and looked Jai over. "Jai, let me get a look at your wound," she said, prying Jai's hand away.

Jai was clenching his teeth, but managed to hiss out, "It's burning."

I scurried to his other side in order to give Katara room to inspect his injury. I took hold of his left hand; his skin was burning hot to the touch, like he had a terrible fever. "Katara, what's wrong? What happened?"

Katara bended some water from the pond and began trying to heal Jai's arm. "That man jumped out of the tree and tried to attack you; Jai jumped across the pond and knocked you down." Katara stopped trying to heal Jai's wound, a look of disbelief on her face. "I can't heal him," Katara said softly before yelling over her shoulder to Toph and the others. "Toph, I think he's been poisoned! Check that guy's weapons!"

Toph kept the man's arms bound with earth, but got to his belt; she pulled out a variety small throwing knives that he had tucked away. She held one just in front of her face. "There's definitely something on these, I can smell it!"

Katara nodded before addressing Ty Lee and Mai. "Go get Zuko and the others – tell them what's happened!" Mai and Ty Lee nodded before running into the palace. "Toph, make sure that guy can't weasel his way out of there. Mae," she said, finally addressing me. "I need you to make a tourniquet and tie it above Jai's wound."

I nodded, pulling the ribbon from my hair. I reached across Jai and quickly tied it just above the wound as tightly as I could. Jai hissed slightly as I tied the tourniquet. "Sorry," I said softly, not sure what I needed to do. "Katara, can you try and bend the poison out of the wound?"

Katara nodded a little. "I can try." As Katara turned her attention back to Jai, I quickly stood and walked over to where Toph had the man encased in earth.

I stomped toward them, anger flooding my veins. "You!" I said, coming to a halt right in front of the man. Toph and the others had pulled his mask from his face. He looked just like Jing – could he possibly be Ling? "Who the hell are you?"

The man spat at me hitting the ground at my feet. "I have nothing to say to you maiden!" He growled at me. His voice was too gruff to be Ling's, but he sounded so much like Jing and Ling that he could have been their brother.

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "Well I have something to say to you, you prick!" I walked to Toph and took one of the knives that she had taken from his belt. I walked over to him and pressed the blade into his face. He cringed a little. "Either you tell me what you poisoned Jai with or I'll poison you with your own knife and leave you to die."

A dark smirk came across his face. "You don't have the guts to do it; the prophecy even says so! 'A maiden, kind and gentle, and a warrior, fiercely brave-"His speech was cut off. I jammed the blade of the poisoned dagger into his cheek, slowly dragging it down to the point of his chin. He cried out as I pulled the knife away from him forcefully. "You little-"

"Tell me what is on this dagger, or I will lock you away and let you die!" I shouted at him.

His cheek began swelling; his eyes were watering, from pain I assumed. "Fine," he said, his teeth grinding together. "It's a mixture of Strychnine tree poison and Naja venom."

"What can cure it?" I demanded. When the man shook his head at me, I placed the dagger on his other cheek. "What can cure it?"

The man cried out as I pressed the blade into his cheek; I didn't break the skin, but it scared him enough. "Sea weed, sea water and dried skin from the Naja frog!"

I stepped away, handing Toph the poison knife, which she held carefully. I lowered my hands, clenching them into fists at my sides. I was trembling with rage and fear. "How long before it kills?"

The man's voice sounded very small and far off. "Anywhere from half an hour to a day," he said. His voice was thick with pain and fear. "Now please, save me!"

My head lowered, I turned and walked away from him, his voice fading away behind me. Zuko, Aang and the others had arrived; the guys were all working together to carry Jai into the palace. Katara came to my side; her face flushed and tired looking. "I pulled as much poison out as I could," she said softly, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I heard the man say what would cure it and sent Iroh to get everything together." Katara squeezed my shoulder lightly. "He's going to be okay, I promise."

We had somehow arrived at the boys' room. I nodded in response to Katara's words. Everyone filed into the boys' room, but I stayed outside. I could hear Jai moaning in pain as the others tended to him and tried to make him comfortable as they waited for Iroh to arrive. I leaned against the wall beside the door and slid down, my knees up tight against my chest.

I was scared; this couldn't actually be happening. Someone had actually tried to kill me, and Jai had saved me. Now, as he fought for his life in the next room, I placed my forehead on my knees and cried.

**I'M SORRY! I know I've been away for a while, but I'm back, and I really hope you all liked this chapter!**

**Also, I'd like to let all of you know that I'm starting another story. It's called 'Interviews!' and how it's going to work is I'm asking my readers either send in reviews to it or send me PMs asking questions from any characters from all of my stories. No holds barred, you can ask anyone from any of my stories anything you can possibly think of. As I receive questions, I'll post chapters, and you all will get your deep burning questions answered.**

**So, yeah. I hope you liked this chapter. R&R and I'll update again as soon as I can!**

**Until next time! ~BBTM**


	19. I've Got An Idea

I'm not sure how long I sat there with my forehead on my knees and tears leaking from my eyes; it could have been days, but it wouldn't have mattered. I was determined to not move from my spot, not until I knew Jai was okay.

I heard someone clear their throat and looked up. Uncle Iroh was seated in front of me, a small steaming cup in his hand. "You have been out here for hours," he said, taking hold of my hand and placing the warm cup in it. "Drink this; it will make you feel better."

I eyed the tea suspiciously; it was an unappetizing yellow with a strong spicy aroma. "Don't worry," Uncle Iroh said with a slight laugh in his voice. "It is just lemon, ginger and honey."

I took a sip; my throat, which I hadn't even realized was bothering me, was soothed by the heat. I could smell the honey once I got the cup under my nose, the scent bringing back memories of home. My mother making biscuits and then putting honey on them; Jai's mother forcing everyone (Sometimes even me when she could manage it) to eat a spoonful of local honey to help with our allergies. My throat constricted and I took another sip of tea to ease the pain.

"Jai will be alright," Uncle Iroh said. "I brewed him a tea with the necessary ingredients and helped him to drink it. After he did, Katara was able to heal his wound. He has a bit of a fever, but he should be fine."

I nodded, drinking more of my tea. "He saved me," I said quietly, almost to myself. I suddenly remembered the man who had attacked us. "What happened to-"

Uncle Iroh held a hand up to calm me. "My nephew and the Avatar are interrogating him as we speak. We were forced to give him some of the medicinal tea as well, so we would be able to question him."

I gazed shamefully down at my almost empty tea cup. "I'm sorry," I said. "I just…lost it."

"No need to apologize Mae," Uncle Iroh said, giving me an encouraging smile. "If you had not done what you did, we would not have found out how to cure the poison."

I nodded before drinking down the rest of my tea; I _did_ feel better. I pushed myself up, standing in front of Uncle Iroh. "I need to go speak with Aang and Zuko."

Uncle Iroh stood and began walking, his hands in his sleeves. "I'm sure they won't appreciate the interruption, but I can see that you will not take no for an answer. Follow me."

Uncle Iroh led me through the halls of the Fire Nation palace, taking me from the residential area to the business area, where the war chamber and fiery throne room were. Uncle Iroh led me to one particular room which had a large door that was closed. I could hear the murmur of voices inside of the room. Uncle Iroh knocked on the door.

The voices inside quieted slightly and then the door was opened; Aang and Zuko came out of the room, both looking very flustered. When Zuko saw his uncle, he gave the old man a confused look. "Uncle, what do you need?"

Uncle Iroh motioned to me. "Mae needed to speak with you nephew."

When Zuko and Aang looked to me, I took a breath before speaking. "We need to do something about this so called rebellion, before someone else gets hurt."

Aang nodded, offering me an encouraging smile. "We're doing everything we can to try and get this assassin to talk," he said. He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, once we get enough information from him about who all is involved in the rebellion, we'll make our move."

I shook my head, looking from Aang to Fire Lord Zuko. "No. We need to stomp this out now, before something else happens."

Zuko gave me a sad but stern look. "How exactly should we go about doing that? We don't know how many people are involved or what they are all capable of-"

"I know that!" I sad loudly. "But if we don't do something soon, something is going to happen, and it sure as hell won't be good."

Uncle Iroh's hand pressed into my other shoulder. "Mae, I agree with you; we do need to take action, but what can we do?"

I glanced at everyone. "I've got an idea," I said. "But I'm going to need the groups help and support to make it work."

Aang nodded, his face suddenly serious. "We'll all help you in whatever way you need."

I nodded back at him, before motioning back the way Uncle Iroh and I had come. "Awesome; now let's go find the others. We need everyone to know the plan before we move."

**Don't worry, the majorly epic events will happen starting in the next chapter. This story will actually be wrapping up soon, sad to say. It's one of my favorites. **

**R&R please! I'll get you a new chapter as soon as I can. **

**Oh, and be sure to check out my new story 'Interviews!' . Leave your questions for any of the characters from my different stories!**

**Until Next Time!**

**~BBTM**


	20. Synchronized Twin Dragons

It was the middle of the night as I walked into the dark garden. I tried my best to keep calm. I had all the information I needed, and the others were all in position. I could hear Ling and Jing walking behind me. As we neared the center of the garden, I turned to face them, keeping my back close to the bushes there. _Please let Katara and Suki be in there already,_ I thought.

"Pardon my asking," Jing started in his falsely sweet voice. I tried my best to not show any trace of fear, despite the fact that I was pretty much scared shitless. "But why did you ask the two of us out here so late at night?"

Ling nodded, his voice mirroring his brothers almost as much as his looks did. "What did you wish to speak with us about that was so important if could not wait until morning?"

I took a deep breath, screwing my courage to the sticking place as best I could. "We know who was behind the assassination attempt earlier today." When the twin men motioned for me to continue, I raised my right hand, pointing my index finger at the two of them. "It was the two of you. The both of you are behind the rebellion against Fire Lord Zuko."

Ling laughed and looked to his brother. "Brother, I believe the young maiden might be daft."

Jing nodded in agreement. "I believe you're right brother; I mean, what proof do you have against us maiden?"

I narrowed my eyes at them. "Your younger brother told me."

_Earlier that night…_

_ I had gone back to the room where Jai lay, unconscious, surrounded by our many new friends. Mai was in a chair to the left of his bed, reading a book by lamp light. Ty Lee and Toph were sitting on the bed to the right, playing some sort of card game. Katara was standing at the foot of Jai's bed, looking him over as he slept. Sokka and Suki were both leaning on opposite sides of the window, trying their best to avoid each other's gaze. Apparently they were still fighting._

_ "Guys," I said, walking into the room quickly while being closely followed by Uncle Iroh, Zuko and Aang. "I've got an idea of how we can stomp out this rebellion."_

_ Aang went to Katara's side, turning her to face me and taking her hand. She looked tired; I just realized how long the day had really been for everyone. Zuko went to Mai, standing behind her chair and resting a hand on her shoulder. Uncle Iroh went and took a seat on the foot of the bed that Ty Lee and Toph were sitting on."Well," Sokka said from the window. He sounded almost as tired as his sister looked. "Let's hear it, Mae."_

_ I quickly told them my plan. If Jing and Ling were the leaders of the rebellion, we could take them out. Arrest them, kill them; I didn't really care. Once we got them out of the picture, there would be chaos in the lower ranks. Members fearful of persecution would more than likely bail out, and then there would be fighting among those remaining. Too many people would vie for control at once, and the rebellion as a whole would self destruct._

_ When I finished my quick explanation, Toph raised her hand to get my attention. "And how exactly do you plan to take them out?"_

_ I nodded, forgetting that she couldn't actually see me. "They would have heard that Jai is still alive; I'm pretty sure that they don't like that. If they take one of us out, the prophecy can't happen, right? If I use myself as bait, I could lure them somewhere where we can capture them."_

_ "What? No way! We're not letting you use yourself as bait!" Suki was no longer leaning against the wall. She had a determined look in her eyes despite the worn and drained look on her face. "It's way too dangerous."_

_ "Just listen," I said, before launching into an explanation of how we would apprehend Jing and Ling._

_ Zuko cleared his throat once I had finished. "That's a pretty good plan, but there's one major flaw. How do we know that other members of the rebellion won't try something? I mean, we have no clue as to how many people are actually involved. They could manage to organize themselves and launch a counter attack against us."_

_ My heart fell to my feet; why hadn't I thought of that? It was so painfully obvious .If only we had a way of finding out how many people were involved._

_ Wait a second…_

_ "I've got it!" I said, storming back out of the room and down the halls. I heard Zuko, Aang and Sokka call after me, and then the falls of footsteps as they followed me. I tore through the halls until I reached the room that held the assassin. I found him still encased in earth, but moving his head from side to side as he attempted to wriggle free. I saw his belt of weapons off to the side; I quickly retrieved a poison knife and pressed it to his unmarked cheek._

_ "How many people are involved in the rebellion against Fire Lord Zuko?" I demanded loudly. The man clenched his jaw, determined not to give in to his fear and tell me. I pressed the knife more firmly into his cheek, though not enough to break the skin. "Tell me, or this cheek will match your other one!"_

_ "Just Jing, Ling and I are left!" He said quickly, glancing behind me toward the door. "Someone get this crazy woman away from me."_

_ "Not until you tell us what we want to know," Zuko's calm voice floated from the door. I gave a small smile. "Answer her questions and we will be lenient with you."_

_ The man nodded before beginning his tale. He was the younger brother of Jing and Ling, who were identical twins. They were all the sons of a noble family that had once been powerful and prominent in the Fire Nation. After the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai, their family had lost all the prestige they had attained during his reign. Their father had been charged as a war criminal and had been locked away. Their mother died just after that. The three brothers only had each other and their thirst for a powerful nation._

_ The brothers – mostly Jing – recruited followers. They had almost thirty people committed to the effort of trying to bring down Fire Lord Zuko. But after the arrival of Jai, everyone suddenly began remembering the prophecy concerning a warrior and maiden from another world. Jing and Ling tried to argue that there was no maiden, so they had nothing to worry about, but nobody wanted to risk it. Everyone bailed out, except the three brothers._

_ After losing members, the rebellion was in danger of dying out. Desperate, Jing and Ling convinced their younger brother, An, to break the deranged Princess Azula out of the mental health facility she was held in. An was a healer there, and had easy access to her. He claimed that he snuck there in the middle of the night to release the princess, but began to have second thoughts. When Azula saw that he was about to back out of letting her go, she, as he put it, "Rewarded me in advance."_

_ My mind went to a rather disgusting place with mental images that no one should ever have to see. I shook it sharply to try and clear my thoughts before motioning for An to continue. An had traveled with the princess and had set her loose in Ba Sing Se. He and his brothers had hoped that Azula would kill Zuko and then they would be able to break Ozai out of prison and place him back on the throne._

_ But that plan had failed, and to make things even worse, then Zuko had returned, he had brought back with him a maiden from another world. The three brothers panicked, knowing that they needed to eliminate the otherworldly beings if they wanted their rebellion to have any chance at working. Since An was a healer, his brothers knew he an extensive knowledge of poisons and antidotes. Jing and Ling had An brew up a poison that could kill quickly, but it took him several days to perfect it._

_ Finally, once the poison was ready, Jing and Ling had their younger brother attempt to assassinate the maiden. My blood ran cold remembering the attack in the garden. An took a breath before looking into my eyes. "That's everything, now please; take the knife away from her!"_

_ I rolled my eyes, tossing the knife to the side as I turned and walked out of the room. Zuko, Aang and Sokka followed me. "What now?" Sokka asked._

_ I paused long enough to look all of them in the eyes. "Go get the others and get into the positions I talked about. Make sure Uncle Iroh alerts the proper guards so that they can be ready to take Jing and Ling into custody. Then ask Uncle Iroh to stay with Jai until everything's over. I'm going to find our 'humble servants'."_

Jing's face scrunched in anger. "So the little traitor squealed, huh?"

"So, now you know, little maiden," Ling said, his voice every bit as angry and cold as Jing's. "What are you going to do now? After all, you're out here all alone. We could just take you out right here and now."

"The only people who are going to be 'taken out' are you two," I said, my voice angry but calm. "And I'm going to be the one to do it!" I fell into my fighting stance, quickly focusing and pulling water from the pond under the tree to my right. I could just barely make out Toph and Ty Lee among the branches. "This is for Jai!" I sent a large water jet at the twin brothers.

They reacted quickly, moving to where they were back to back. "Everyone!" I called, knowing my friends were in position. "Now!"

Aang and Sokka were the first to appear, coming up just behind Jing and Ling. The twins bended fire at them, forcing them back. I could see Zuko and Mai coming down from the roof of the palace walk way to my left. Toph and Ty Lee came down from the tree on my right as Katara and Suki came up on either side of me.

Jing and Ling were moving in tandem, mirroring each other so perfectly, it was frightening. They kicked fire toward Zuko and Mai, who countered with fire and weapons, respectively. They punched, sending fire toward Toph and Ty Lee. Toph stomped the ground, shielding them with a thick wall of earth.

Katara and I attempted to mimic Jing and Ling, performing identical water bending moves in tandem. We sent powerful water jets at the twins as Zuko and Toph moved in beside us, countering the twins as we did. Suki dodged and weaved in and out of the action, trying to get as close as she could, searching for an opening, a way to get between the two. Mai stayed just outside the twins' range, tossing in every manner of throwing knife she had. Sokka and Ty Lee were in the middle of everything, blocking flames as they were sent at them, trying to get close enough to inflict some damage.

It was nearly impossible. The twins' worked together so well it was frightening. "What the hell is this? It's like they're reading each others' minds _and_ ours!" I growled in frustration as Katara and I alternated between water jets and water bullets. We had paused for just a second, barely the blink of an eye, to pull more water from the pond, when an unexpected fire blast came right for us.

"Get down!" Katara shoved me to the ground. I didn't see the blast pass over us. I sat up quickly and saw that Katara's back was badly burned.

"Katara, no!" I called, bending water from the pond and dousing the flames on her clothes.

"Katara!" Aang flew over to us in a moment, using a powerful blast of air from his feet to send another fire blast away from us. "Katara, please be okay!"

I looked to the young Avatar, whose face was panic stricken. "You stay here with her! I've got an idea that might knock the twins' out of sync!" Aang nodded as I stood and charged, head on toward the twins. "Everyone hit the deck!" I focused all my energy into the palms of my hands, pulling water from the pond, grass and trees and sending it flying at Jing and Ling.

Jing gave a dark smirk. "Stupid girl," he said.

"Haven't you realized that you can't beat us?" Ling said.

They countered my water jet with fire punches, pointing both sets of their fists at me.

"You want to bet? Zuko, Toph, NOW!"

Zuko had maneuvered his way onto the other side of the garden, just inside the twins' blind spot. Toph was to my right. They bended at the same time, sending fire and rock bullets at the evil bastards. Jing and Ling spun around quickly, countering the assaults. I cursed under my breath, preparing another water jet.

Jing's cold gaze fell onto me. "Too slow."

He and Ling leapt into the air, fire pouring from the heels of their feet as they kicked toward me.

I was a goner. There was no way I could focus my energy quickly enough to counter. I pulled up a pathetic wall of water and started murmuring a Hail Mary when suddenly, from my left, a large fire blast appeared. It sailed forward, meeting the blast from Jing and Ling and sent it flying into the tree that Toph and Ty Lee had originally been hiding in.

I had cringed back from the blasts, falling on my behind. The tree burned, illuminating the garden and the battle that was ensuing. Toph, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka and Suki were still attempting to get in and separate the twins; throw them out of synch with one another, but I sat frozen. My eyes were on my rescuer. His shaggy blond hair seemed to glow in the fire light.

"Jai! What the hell-"

"Couldn't let you have all the fun, could I Mae?" He was leaning against one of the pillars supporting the roof that Zuko and Mai had been on. He was panting slightly, an arm wrapped around his stomach; he looked feverish…he looked amazing. "Now get off your ass and help everyone finish the bastards!"

I nodded, hurrying to my feet and charging toward the battle, throwing water bullets, ice bullets – anything I could possibly make to bend at the twins. They were caught off guard by my sudden reentry, and that was only made worse when Aang came up along side of me, sending small but powerful air swipes at the bastards.

As Aang, Zuko, Toph and I danced around the twins, forcing them to twist and turn to counter our attacks, I saw it. A tiny opening, the perfect opportunity to get someone in between them.

"Ty Lee!" I called. The acrobat had apparently seen the same opening I had, a slightly gap between the twins' shoulders which formed when the focused their attention on one particular side. Ty Lee, with Suki and Sokka shadowing her, prepared to block any attacks the twins might use on her, slipped in between them before they could react.

"What the-?"

"How did she-?"

Ty Lee, being the amazingly kick ass person she is, hit the twins' in several of their pressure points, rendering their arms useless. She went for the legs next, knocking their feet out from under them and blocking their chi. They were defenseless, and fell helplessly to the ground.

We stopped out attacks, but remained ready to blast the sons-a-bitches. Aang and I walked the closest as Uncle Iroh walked out into the garden with several palace guards. The men pointed their weapons at the twins as they sat lamely on the ground, unable to move their limbs.

Jing ground his teeth together as he glared at me. "You little retch!"

"How could a bunch of children have bested us?" Ling growled angrily.

Sokka hugged Suki tightly before flashing a peace sign at the twins. "'Because we're awesome, that's how!"

Suki shook her head lightly before reaching up and covering her boyfriend's mouth with her hand. "Sokka just shut up."

I stepped closer to the twins after the guards had shackled them. They glared at me and Jing spoke to me in a low voice. "We'll make you pay for this little girl. I swear it."

I glared at him in return. "I have two words for you." I took a slight step back and pulled my right leg from the ground, kicking Ling sharply in the head. "Bite." I repeated the action, but with my left leg on Jing's head. "Me."

The guards carried them away, hopefully to throw them in prison and leave them to rot. I felt sorry for the bastards if they ever got out and I was around. I would kill them with my bare hands. Uncle Iroh came up beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You did very well Mae," he said softly. I turned to give him a small smile. "Now, your teacher needs your help."

"Oh!" I had forgotten about Katara. I ran back over to where Aang had laid her; everyone was gathered around her, gazing uncertainly at her wound. It didn't look nearly as bad as it had seemed to in the heat of battle, but I could still see that she was in pain. Aang had her lying on her stomach, her chin resting in his knees. "Hang on Katara," I said softly, crouching down beside my teacher.

I pulled water from the pond, letting the water form a glove around my hand. I took a deep breath, focusing on what Katara had taught me back at Uncle Iroh's tea shop. "Redirect the chi," I said softly to myself as I attempted to heal Katara's back. I let my eyes drift closed as I visualized the pathways of chi in Katara's body; I focused on letting it flow to her injury to heal it.

I heard Katara sigh slightly in relief. "Mae, you're doing it!" Aang said happily. There were collective sounds of surprise and excitement from the group.

I started feeling incredibly weak; fighting so hard and then using the rest of my energy to heal Katara…needless to say, it'll wipe a girl out. I opened my eyes and saw that- thankfully – Katara's wound was healed. I gave a happy sigh and fell backwards. Someone caught me and hugged me tightly from behind. I could tell who it was before he spoke; I would recognize that scent anywhere. "You did it, Mae," Jai's voice said.

I tried to shake my head. "No, _we_ did it Jai. You, me…" I glanced around at everyone tiredly. "And all of our completely kick ass friends."

There was a collective laugh and a comment from Sokka, but I never heard it; I drifted off into sweet unconsciousness, Jai's arms still around me.

**Yah woo! Let me tell you, this was a toughie to write! It was so hard to convey the action that happened in my dream. I really hope you all liked it. **

**I tried my best to sneak a little Kataang in there. I know it wasn't much, and don't kill me yet, there will be a nice cute moment coming up soon, I swear.**

**Also, the title of this chapter refers to the technique Jing and Ling used. Synchronized Twin Dragons is a scary ass technique, and it was amazing to watch in my dream. I only hope it was as awesome here.**

**Before I forget, be sure you check out my newest story 'Interviews!' Leave your questions for any character you want!**

**So, R&R, let me know what you think, and I'll do my best to get another chapter up soon!**

**Until next time!**

**~BBTM**


	21. A Celebration and Just A Dream

I slept over twenty-four hours; I didn't wake up until two mornings after the fight against Jing and Ling. The only reason I woke up was because Katara shook my shoulder lightly. "C'mon, wake up," she said softly. I groaned, not wanting to open my eyes and be blinded by the light of the morning. I heard Katara set something on the table beside my bed before speaking again. "Mae, you need to wake up!"

I pulled the blankets over my head. "It's bright," I moaned, pulling the blankets back down just enough to peek out at my teacher. She looked alright, considering the burn she had received during the battle against the twins. Her usual water tribe dress had been the one burned, so she now wore a light green earth kingdom dress trimmed in yellow.

"I know it is," Katara said gently, though her hands were on her hips in a very motherly fashion. "But you've been sleeping for well over a day; you need to get up and get some food in you."

"Over a day?" I sat up suddenly. Had I really been asleep over a day?

Katara nodded, letting her hands drop to her sides. "Yeah, this is the second morning since the fight. Uncle Iroh thought you might like some tea," she said, motioning toward the bedside table. On it was a larger than average tea cup, steam rising from its depths. I could smell honey and lemon with the vague spice of ginger. I smiled before reaching out and taking hold of the tea cup.

"Thanks," I said softly before taking a sip. The tea was good; Uncle Iroh had just earned a hug. "So, how's everyone doing? No one was hurt too badly, were they?"

Katara shook her head as she sat down on the edge of my bed. "No, I was actually hurt worse than anyone else, but you completely healed my burn. Everyone one else had minor cuts and burns that I took care of after you passed out."

I took another sip before lowering the cup, cradling it gently in my lap with my hands. "How's Jai?" I asked, my voice barley a whisper.

I could hear a smile in Katara's voice. "He's doing much better. Uncle Iroh has advised him to not over exert himself, and has him doing minor bending practice." I gave Katara a confused look, not entirely sure what she was talking about. "Like, Jai has to use his breath of fire to heat metal and shape it. He's made several trinkets – birds, flowers, he even made a little boat."

I smiled, my mood brightening. "How's Aang doing? He was really worried about you after…after you got hit."

Katara looked a little shocked and slightly confused, but her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. "H-he's fine," she said. "He uh…he stayed with me until that next morning."

I gave her a sly smile. "Oh really?" Katara didn't catch my humor, so I quickly cleared my throat before speaking again. "He really cares about you Katara. You know that right?"

Katara was silent, her gaze falling to her hands which were folded neatly in her lap. "I know that," she said. "I mean, we're…together, I'm just…I don't know…not confused just…"

"Uncertain?" I offered. When Katara nodded, I smiled again, shaking my head slightly. "I understand the feeling…though I'm sure it's slightly different for you. I mean, you're in a relationship with the most powerful man in the world…No pressure, right?" Katara laughed a little at my sarcasm. "Look, Katara…I know I'm not much older than you, so I can't offer you a lot of wisdom, but…I do know a bit about how Aang really feels about you. He's loved you for a long time, Katara."

Katara blushed deeply, wringing her hands together. "I-I know that too-"

"Then don't worry," I said softly, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. Katara looked up at me and I gave her a bright smile. "I mean, sure, more than love is needed to make a relationship work in the long term, but…loves the most important part." I patted Katara's shoulder lightly. "You and Aang..? You're meant to be; trust me. All you have to do is let go of your uncertainty and…just take the plunge."

Katara smile and nodded to me lightly. "You're right," she said, standing from the edge of my bed. She started to walk from the room, but quickly turned around and came back to my bed side and hugged me tightly. "Thank you Mae."

I smiled and hugged her back. After a moment, the young water bender released me and swept out of the room, a smile in her eyes and an even bigger smile on her face.

**XD XD XD**

Later that day, after I had finally gotten out of bed, bathed and dressed in a nice earth kingdom dress similar to Katara's, I walked out into the garden where the battle against Jing and Ling had occurred. I was surprised to see that there wasn't that much damage to the garden foliage or the nearby buildings. The only true indication to the fight was the charred remains of the tree beside the turtle duck pond. When I looked beneath it, I saw Jai and Aang sitting, conversing with smiles on their faces. I smiled myself as I walked over to them. "Hey you two," I said with a small wave.

Aang waved in return as I sat down. "Glad to see you're up and about, Mae," he said with a small laugh. "We were beginning to think you'd never wake up."

Jai nodded in agreement as he concentrated on the piece of metal in his hands. It was a long flat piece, which he heated to make it pliable. Once he did that, his hands moved quickly, bending the metal into the shape of a shamrock. "Finally," he sighed after Aang cooled the metal with a quick cooling breath. "I've been trying to make one this shape all day." Jai held the metal shamrock out to Aang. "Here Aang; thanks for the advice," he said.

Aang smiled. "No problem Jai; thanks for the advice you gave me," The young air bender stood quickly, cradling the metal shamrock in his hands. "I'll see you two tonight," he said before walking away, heading back inside the palace.

I waved at the Avatar as he left before glancing back to Jai. "What did the Avatar need advice about?"

Jai smiled as he reclined back on his elbows. "Aang's got it bad for Katara; you know that. I just told him to-"

"Take the plunge?"

Jai nodded. "Yeah…how did you know that?"

I waved my hand at him lightly with a playful smirk. "Ah, just call it 'woman's intuition.' So, what's happening tonight?"

Jai heaved a sigh before speaking. "The big celebration commemorating the year anniversary of the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai. There's going to be fireworks, a big feast and even dancing."

I cringed slightly; dancing had never been my forte. "Should be tons of fun," I said. "Have you seen Uncle Iroh? I've got to give him a 'thank you' hug."

Jai pointed in the direction of the palace. "Last time I saw him, he was with Zuko trying to finalize plans for the fireworks show."

"Okay, then," I said, quickly standing. I turned to look at Jai. "So…I'll see you tonight then?"

Jai laughed a little. "It's a date."

**XD XD XD**

That evening, there was an excited hum about the entire palace. Katara brought me a very pretty Fire nation dress to wear; it was similar to the one she wore when they had all been in the Fire nation prior to Ozai's defeat, but – thankfully – it was more modest. It didn't show my stomach and was more like a tank top; it also had a shorter skirt, falling just below my knees. I was grateful for that; it was unbearably hot in the Fire Nation.

After dressing and fixing my hair to where it hung down around my face in the nicest way possible, I walked out of the room that I shared with the other girls. They had all gotten ready earlier and had gone off to meet the guys for the feast. They had promised to save me a seat, so I wasn't very worried. I walked through the halls, following the sounds of talking and laughter that were coming from the largest and most formal dining hall of the palace.

I turned a corner, but quickly jumped back when I saw Aang and Katara standing there, appearing to be deep in conversation. I peeked around the corner, watching them and eavesdropping; despite the fact that I knew it was rather rude.

"Aang, what is it?" Katara asked, giving him a concerned look.

"There's something…that I really need to tell you Katara," Aang said, trying his best to meet her gaze, but managing not to. His grey eyes darted about, from the walls to the floor, never stopping. "It's really important and I-"

"Wait, Aang," Katara said. "I've got something to tell you too…"

The couple both continued to speak, their voices slowly growing louder as they tried to make themselves heard. I fought the urge to laugh as their frustration began to build and show on their faces. Deciding to help the two along, I lowered my voice and yelled toward them, "Just kiss her already!"

The couple stopped talking long enough to look around, trying to see who had spoken. When they didn't find anyone (because I was smart and hid behind the corner), they looked back to each other. Katara started to speak, "Aang, I-"But was cut off by Aang's lips crashing over hers. Katara's eyes were wide for a moment before she let them drift close and wrapped her arms around Aang's neck.

When they finally pulled apart, Aang placed his hand on Katara's cheek. "Katara, I…I l-love you and I want us to stay together…always."

Katara nodded slightly as she looked up into Aang's eyes. "I'd like that Aang…"

I smiled as the couple exchanged a few final words, embraced and then walked away, to – I assumed- the feast. I gave a contented sigh and smacked my palms together, ridding them of the 'dirt' from my 'hard work.'

"What are you doing?" I nearly jumped out of my skin as Suki manifested behind me.

I leaned against the wall, my hand pressed tightly over my heart. "My gods, Suki don't ever do that again! I think I'm going to have a heart attack!"

Suki gave me a sad smile. "Sorry," she said, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were cold.

"What's up?" I asked her, gathering my wits back about me and stand up from the wall. "You seem kind of down."

Suki shook her head slightly, her short hair whipping her cheeks gently. "It's nothing, I just…well; I wanted to ask you something." I motioned for her to continue; she took a deep breath before speaking. "Well, you see, Sokka and I had a stupid fight a while back, and…Well, I want to tell him I'm sorry, but I'm just not sure how."

"How about starting with saying 'I'm sorry'?" I asked. "I mean, I'm assuming you guys fought about living arrangements, right?"

Suki gave me a bewildered look. "How did you know?"

I shrugged. "It's an easy subject to fight over; I mean it's a big step, living together. Personally, I think you should just tell him, 'I'm sorry,' and that you want to try and work things out."

Suki nodded slightly. "It's just so hard, you know?"

I nodded back to her. "Trust me, I know…I've found that out the hard way on this trip, believe you me. Now c'mon, we've got a feast to get to."

Suki nodded, a small smile on her face and began leading the way to the dining hall. We turned down the hallway where Aang and Katara had had their little Kataang moment. There was a large set of double doors at the end, which were wide open, revealing small round tables and a large open area for a dance floor. I could hear music being played; there were some people dancing, but most were either mingling or sitting and eating.

Once Suki and I were through the doors, I caught sight of Sokka, standing and talking with Zuko. I grabbed Suki's arm and dragged her over to the two guys. "Hey Sokka! Hey Fire Lord Zuko! Sokka, Suki's got something to talk to you about. Zuko I…uh…need to talk to you about something…over there! _Way_ over there!" With all that out of my mouth in the span of a second, I pushed Suki toward her boomerang boyfriend and grabbed Zuko's arm and dragged him away.

"What the-Mae, where's the fire?" Zuko said as I dragged him away. He wretched his arm from my grasp. "What has gotten into you?"

I stared at him lamely, not knowing what I should try and say to him. "I, uh…." I gulped slightly before pulling dialogue out of my ass. "I love you, man, let just face facts," I said, hugging Zuko lightly. I looked toward where Sokka and Suki were standing. They were talking, standing rather close, slight blushes on their faces. _Awesome! Mission complete!_

"O…Kay…" Zuko said, hugging me back lightly. I'm pretty sure he had a very confused look on his face. "So uh, did you actually have something to talk to me about?"

_Oh gods, pull something out of your ass, quick!_ "I uh…" I pulled back from him, and was – Thank God! – struck by my topic of discussion. "I… think that you need to take a Fire Lady!"

"What?"

"I mean, as the Fire Lord, it's important for you to think about what will be best for your country, and…" I swallowed, my throat suddenly very dry as I tried to come up with a legitimate argument. "And I think that it would be good for you to take a Fire Lady. And I honestly think that there would be no one better than…" _Shit! What's her name again?_ "Mai! There's no one better than Mai!"

Zuko raised an eyebrow at me. "You?"

I shook my head roughly. "No, the other Mai! Your girlfriend Mai! The Mai with an 'I' not an 'e'!"

Zuko nodded slowly, clearly thinking I was insane. "Are you feeling okay?"

I nodded, waving a hand lightly at the very confused Fire Lord. "Oh yeah, I'm fine! I've just apparently come down with a bit of matchmaker fever. So uh…yeah, you go and find Mai, and I'm going to uh…" I pointed to a random spot across the room. "I'm going to go over there!" And then I ran, leaving Zuko looking rather confused and slightly annoyed.

I made it to the other side of the room in record time. I managed to find a bare spot on the wall to lean against and catch my breath. I ran my eyes along the crowd, trying to pick out my friends. I saw Uncle Iroh, Toph and Ty Lee sitting at a table, eating and laughing happily. I saw Aang and Katara dancing together, putting on quite a show for anyone who wanted to watch. Sokka and Suki were among the spectators, looking very happy as they stood hand in hand.

I couldn't find Zuko or Mai anywhere…I hoped that that meant that he had taken my pulled-from-my-butt advice and had dragged Mai off to…propose? I wasn't sure if that was the right term.

"Hey."

I almost jumped out of my skin for the second time that night. Jai had come up on my left like a freaking ninja.

No seriously, he was dressed in a black fire nation outfit, so he did sort of look like the classic Ninja. He wore a formal tunic with long sleeves, pants and some nice shoes. He had a slight smirk on his face as he watched me try to recover from my second near heart attack of the evening. I pointed a finger at him and attempted to look menacing. "If you people don't stop scaring me to death, I'm going to nun chuck someone in the face!"

Jai laughed slightly as he looked me over. "Good to see you too," he said, reaching up and running a hand through his short hair. "So, uh…I've got something for you."

I cocked my head slightly as Jai reached into his pants pocket. "Turn around," he told me. I huffed, but obeyed, turning my back to him. He reached around me, lowering a necklace around my neck. "I made it…while you were sleeping yesterday."

I looked down to see a well crafted metal sparrow hanging from a leather cord. The bird itself was amazing, with beautiful miniscule details. I ran my fingers over it lightly. "Jai, you made this? It's…you…wow."

Jai laughed as he turned me around to face him. "I thought you would like it," he said. He reached and pushed a strand of hair out of my face. "Listen, I just wanted to…to tell you… I'm glad we're friends again, and…I was wondering…" He stooped down slightly to look into my eyes. "When we get back home…erm…would you be willing to…start over with me?"

I cocked my head at him slightly before smiling. "I could get Kayla to set us up on a blind date if you want," I said semi-sarcastically.

Jai laughed, hugging me tightly. "It's a date," he said, taking my hand and pulling me away from my hiding spot along the wall. "C'mon, let's go hang out with the others."

**XD XD XD**

Turns out that Zuko _did_ propose to Mai; they came back into the hall with slightly goofy (and very uncharacteristic) grins on their faces.

We eventually got all of the gaang together, sitting at a particularly large round table. "I'd like to propose a toast," I said, holding my glass up to gain everyone's attention. "First: to amazing friends. You all are the best and I know that I speak for everyone when I say 'You rock.' And second…to the soon to be Fire Lord _and Lady!_" There were calls of agreement and support as we all drank (though it wasn't alcohol).

After I took my seat, Jai stood up, holding his glass up. "To second chances!" He said, before downing the rest of his drink.

"Here, here!" Sokka said, taking a drink and then wrapping an arm around Suki's shoulders. I smiled and took a sip of my own drink. Jai smiled at me as he retook his seat and we all began eating. The meal was delicious, a wide variety of the many different meats and vegetables that were available in that world. I sat squeezed between Aang and Sokka; on Aang's other side was Katara, then Toph, then Uncle Iroh, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Jai, Suki and then finally Sokka on my right.

We were all eating and lightly conversing when Aang turned and looked at me. "So, Mae, I was thinking that starting tomorrow we could begin trying to figure out a way to send you and Jai home."

My heart fell. It was true, I missed my home world, and I wondered if I was missed in return, but…if the truth be told… "I'm not sure I want to go back," I said softly, earning a concerned look from Aang and then from Katara. "I mean, I miss home, but…I would miss you guys when I went back. You're some of the best friends I've ever had."

Sokka slapped my back in a light hearted manner. "Hey, we would miss you too!"

Aang patted my shoulder gently. "Don't worry, I'm not saying you have to go back right away. I mean, we don't know how to get you back yet. I just thought we should start trying to look into it."

I gave a half hearted smile. "Yeah, okay then."

**XD XD XD**

A few more hours passed and the festivities ended after an amazing fireworks display. We all went our separate ways to our rooms. Zuko, Mai and Uncle Iroh went to their specified rooms closest to the living quarters of the royal family. The rest of us walked together through the halls until we reached the hall with our rooms. The couples split up, saying good night to their significant others. I started to duck into the girls' room with Toph and Ty Lee when Jai caught my hand. "I uh…" he started.

I gave him a small smile and then a light hug. "I'll see you in the morning Jai."

Jai nodded after I released him. "I uh…if you don't want to go home, when the time comes…well…maybe we…you and I could…start over here?"

I smiled again, squeezing his hand lightly. "I'd like that," I said. "We can always get Ty Lee to set us up on a blind date."

Jai smiled; he stooped down slightly and gently pressed his lips to my forehead. "It's a date," he said before pulling me into a tight hug. "Sweet dreams Mae," he whispered before releasing me and turning to go into the boys' room.

"You too, Jai," I said before turning and walking into the girls' room, closing the door behind me.

I heaved a small sigh, feeling very tired after the long and eventful day. I walked over to my bed. Ty Lee was sitting on the bed to the left and Katara on the right. Toph was sitting beside Ty Lee, picking her toes. "I saw that," she said snidely as she flicked dirt out from under her toe nails.

"Saw what?" I asked, walking over to my bed and taking a seat before pulling my shoes off. I glanced over at Suki who was leaning against the wall and gazing out of the window. I thought about Toph's statement for a moment before shaking my head. "Wait a minute, you can't see!"

"That's beside the point New Girl," Toph said, switching from picking her toes to picking her nose. "You and Lover Boy are almost worse than Twinkle Toes and Sugar Queen over there."

"Hey!" Katara said in annoyance as she began taking her hair down. "I thought we agreed no more 'Sugar Queen'…"

Toph and Katara began bickering lightly as I changed into some light night clothes and got into bed. I smiled as my friends went about their business, talking as they prepared for bed. Before I even knew it, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

**XD XD XD**

"Katherine Mae, if you don't wake up, I'm going to get your father to come and get you up!"

I shot forward in my bed, very confused and disoriented. I was in my bed back home, surrounded by the pink walls of my bedroom. My dog – a brindle boxer named Bristol – was looking at me, her head cocked to the side slightly. I looked around, trying to remember how I had gotten there. Hadn't I just gone to bed in the Fire Nation, my friends in the other beds in the room?

I looked down at myself; my sleep clothes from the Fire nation had been replaced by my black 'Wolf Pack' tee shirt and grey work out pants. My wrists had my many different bracelets, from my 'rock' silly bands to my Saint Jude bracelet. I patted my chest. I heard the jingle of my two usual necklaces, but also felt a different one. I pulled it out and looked at it.

My heart almost stopped. It was a metal sparrow on a leather chord. "Oh my gods," I said softly, reaching onto my bedside table and grabbing up my cell phone. I flipped it open, dialed the number and pressed it impatiently to my ear. "C'mon, Jai…Jake…just pick up the phone." As it rang, I chanted 'pick up'. There was a small click and an automated voice.

I sighed and waited for the beep before leaving my message. "Hey Jake, its Kate. Listen, I just had the most…unbelievable dream, but…"_But I don't think it was totally a dream._ "Just call me back as soon as you can."

I closed the phone and sighed, holding the sparrow lightly in my fingers. "No way was all that just a dream," I said softly.

I heard my mother call to me from the den outside my room. "Kate, you need to get dressed!"

I sighed before getting out of the bed. _No way,_ I thought. _No way was all of that just a dream._

_**End**_

**There you have it folks! The ending of 'Adventures in Avatar Land!' I really hope you have enjoyed this story!**

**Don't worry, I get the feeling that Jai and Mae might return to Avatar land in the future. (I sure hope so! That place is fun!)**

**I would like to say that, despite reconciling in the dream, Jai and Mae (well actually, Jake and Kate…that is, Jake and I…you get it, right?) haven't actually reconciled. In fact, we haven't spoken in several months. I'd like to think that somehow, Jake might read this and understand how much he is missed. I'd also like to think that he would realize how sorry I am for any disagreements we have had.**

_**Jake, if you ever do read this, I hope you'd be willing to be my friend again. I love you and miss you greatly…And I would like you to know that a part of me will always be 'Your Kate.'**_

**Thanks again to my amazing readers and my even more amazing reviewers. I hope that you all will check out my other stories and leave you opinions.**

**Until next time!**

**I remain your humble provider of entertainment ~ BBTM**


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